大象传媒

Huge amounts of timber in all shapes and size and length got washed ashore along with a lot of other things that we could find a use for. Some from sunken ships but most came from deck鈥檚 cargos. Because of the needs of war, and the number of ships getting sunk by enemy action a large amount of cargo was carried on deck, as well as in the hold. Heavy storms and high seas claimed some of these deck cargo鈥檚 most of it ending up on the rocky coastline. We were not supposed to, but we would go and collect what ever we could find, boxes of tinned food and bundles of wood usually tied with wire straps, measuring anything from three to thirty foot long, 20 to 30 pieces in each bundle. We would climb down the cliffs to get at it if it couldn鈥檛 be carried up it would be pulled up the cliff face by rope then loaded like pack horses we would carry it home. The custom men would come now and then to claim what was recovered, the finder was paid for his efforts but the payment was very small so a lot of timber never left the village, hen houses, garden sheds, pig sty鈥檚, fences and out houses got built as never before.

Nearly everyone kept pigs or some other kind of livestock the government stipulated that if you kept more than one pig the rest when killed had to be sold to the government. Most people had two or more, and so helped to feed the nation. At killing time 鈥渨hat a time that was鈥� the pigs kept in out of the way places away from the homes we lived in had to be led to the slaughterhouse. If this was not possible killed on site then carried. This was a fair old job when you consider the size of the pigs. Who weighed anything from 20 to 30 stone. It was always a team effort everyone helped 鈥渆ven those without pigs鈥� their payment was enough fresh pork to feed them for a day or two. Most of the meat was cured into bacon or ham. We always had sides of bacon or ham hung up in the house.

We children used to talk about the war a great deal as to what we would do when we had to go and fight. We had camps and hideaways both in the woods, and the village. We made one in Grandfather鈥檚 old warehouse we used the loft, pulling the ladder up behind us so that nobody could catch us by surprise. Another was under the floor of an old building belonging to the pub that 鈥淪herry鈥檚鈥� dad had. This one overlooked the harbour, the only lighting we had was candles. One night someone must have seen a light or heard our voices because we were suddenly surrounded by home guard. They thought they had caught a nest of 鈥淕erman spies鈥�. Another one we could hide and fight from was a cave in the face of a steep high cliff.
Very dangerous to get to. We had great imagination and daring in those days. Even at school we did our bit, we cultivated large lumps of land g rowing every type of vegetable you can think of. What we grew we shared out to pupils to take home and given to the elderly, everyone shared and pulled together.

The war went on year after year we got older still wanting to fight, but we could see we were winning, but people in the village still got that telegram telling them that a loved one would not be coming home. But the war was coming to an end then mother got word that my eldest brothers ship had got sunk and there were no survivors along with my brother six other young men went down. This was a blow the village found hard to accept so many young men gone in one ship. The end when it did come was a happy one for some, but a lot of homes were full of sadness, with people thinking about those who would not be coming home. Nearly 25% of the young men who had gone to war never lived to see the victory nearly 6 years of conflict had seen the end of a generation of young men, many not reaching the age of 20, men who would be badly missed in the years to come.

The war still had it鈥檚 effect on a lot of young men myself included we had two years of national service to do, so the village still lost a lot of it鈥檚 young men for a few years. Some met a partner and didn鈥檛 return and so the scars of war continued. In fact the village never fully recovered. The 鈥淪teers鈥� I knew lived only in my mind, just like all the young men who never returned I would often say to them 鈥淲ell done鈥�. We will meet again I hope.

Ken Verrill (Kenny boy)

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