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Kathleen & Ivy came along to the Birmingham Back to Backs 1940s event to tell their story to a National Trust volunteer on 22 March 2005. They are aware of and accept the site’s terms and conditions.

The two ladies remembered rationing very vividly. The ration books came in different colours: white for adults, blue for teenagers and green for babies. You could only get bananas and orange juice with coupons form the green books. Once a month there were sweet coupons but not always anything to buy with them.

When you got bacon from the butchers, you’d have to bone it yourself. Ivy was 15 when her brother was born and used to help feed him. She remembers using the National Dried Milk for baby food and feeding him using an old sauce bottle.

Everything had to be fetched — there weren’t many deliveries — everyone was too busy. Ivy used to go out in her turban with curlers underneath.

Later on, she joined the ATS. She met her husband when her cousin, who was in the Army, wrote and said ‘I’ve got a lovely friend — he’s always looking at my photograph of you and he’d like to meet you’. So I met his friend, whose name was Ronald, and we hit it off so I married him!

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