大象传媒

During the last war my mother was very fortunate to have a very good friend, Edith Ball who owned a grocery business in Riddings and she kept us supplied with most goods that were rationed at the time such as butter, cheese, sugar, tea and I remember, the bottles of Camp coffee. Not everybody could afford to spend their allocation of coupons for instance, familes with four or more would have the coupons but be unable to use them. Edith would 'buy' any unused coupons and this surplus would be passed on to my mother and so we were able to have somewhat more than our entitlement. My mother would also buy clothing coupons from a large family who lived in Prospect Street, unfortunately I cannot remember their name, and as we had sufficient for our needs these clothing coupons were sold on to Edith to redistribute. As so very often happens in times of scarcity there are those who feel they should report these kind of dealings. When this happened to my mother she was taken to court and had to pay a fine of 拢20, which in today's money could be as much as 拢400 pounds.My mother was unable to pay this money and it was paid for her by Edith. I realise now the necessity for the rules governing rationing but I believe my mother did what she thought was best for her family at the time.

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