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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Catherine Whitham and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."I had two brothers and a sister in the war, the ATS , Navy and Airforce. The brother in the Navy went all over, Murmansk and America etc. I remember America especially as he came back with all sorts, bananas, oranges, sweets etc.

I can remember the incendiaries at Ward Green and walking to ‘Yellow Waters’ where a landmine had dropped.

My Airforce brother was a guard of honour for the funeral of a pilot who died in a plane crash at Pogmoor. The funeral was at Doncaster.

There were no sweets to buy but the shop sold 1d carrots and 1d turnip. These were peeled and washed.

You could go to the Public Hall and get a meal reasonable priced and the food was adequate. There were underground shelters in the market where Jo Edwards ‘the pot man’ used to stand.

Dad wouldn’t let us go in the shelters. He said we had to go up to the ‘Bull fields’ and shelter under the thorn hedges.

Miss Copley taught at Holy Rood, Barnsley and lived at Sheffield. She sometimes arrived crying as she saw the dead being taken out of the rubble.

If the siren went when I was at school we went into the shelters under the school, or our parents would fetch us. I would go into the shelters. At school they provided wool and we used to knit balaclavas, socks, wristlets etc knitted on four needles in the forces colours.

When war ended and the lights were due to come on Margaret, a friend, and I went into Shaw Lane Cricket Ground. We could watch all the lights come on all over Barnsley.

I can remember a Hollywood film ‘Objective Burma’ was banned in England. Errol Flynn won the battle and there were no Yanks there!

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