´óÏó´«Ã½

This story by Gloria Davies, has been added to the People’s War website by Anne Wareing of the Lancashire Home Guard …

The Openshaw area of Manchester had many air raids and bombs, as there was a concentration of heavy engineering works and munitions factories.

As a six year old at the start of the war, we children were rather fussed over by teachers, Sunday School teachers and ‘Brown Owls’ etc. (who always escorted us home in the blackouts).

There never seemed to be a shortage of food, plentiful vegetables, fish, fresh rabbits etc. the adults were generous with their own butter and sweet rations and I liked the dark bread.

We had a shop in a very poor district where most women still wore the traditional clogs and shawls and with the men either away fighting or making munitions and wearing overalls, they didn’t want all their clothing coupons, so my mother often bought them on the thriving ‘black market.’

She also had a rather naughty fun filled war as she was divorced and there were many American soldiers around.

We lived with grandparents, who refused to part with me or my sister when our school was evacuated and so we went to another local school part time, one week a.m. then the other week p.m.

But it was a happy time, only because we were very lucky to avoid the tragedies all around us.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.