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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Marie on behalf of Susan Ewer and has been added to the site with her permission. Susan fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was 5 when war broke out and don't remember much of the anxieties of the parents... We lived in Coventry and my local Kindergarten School was evacuated to Wales - Penmama on Anglesey. We wore brown uniform and the hat blew off with the wind - I was not there for very long - perhaps they thought I was too homesick at that age.

I then went to a Prep School- New College (for young ladies!) and boarded. When there was an Air Raid we went into the cellar where there were bunks. I used to 'sleep on' and a member of the Staff stayed with me, till the morning, rather than waking me up to go back to the 'Dorm'.
We had 1 jar of jam for the month, all labelled, kept in the dining room - with flavours like raspberry and strawberry (all the same!) and 2 or 3 sweets a week, which were given out on a Sunday - we kept them in our locker for a treat. My mother used to ride over on her horse and brought a basket of blackberries and homemade jam for the school. (Repetition for her - she had picked and made the jam for soldiers in WW1)

If we had the 'disease of the time' - measles, chickenpox etc, we went into The San , and were kept in Isolation - only allowed out in the side garden not to mix with the others for fear of Infection! I made little paper scrap books and they had to be burnt when the room was fumigated afterwards.

To get away from the Bombing of Coventry, we went out to a farm in Warwickshire, for the summer in a caravan, and then stayed on and lived in the 'cowmans cottage' - 3 rooms alongside the farmyard - high windows, with the cows in the yard the other side. My mother cooked on a very small range (I recall black leading. . .) - or it may have been an open fire, supplemented in the Bathroom with 2 Primus Stoves, perched on a wobbly card table (fold up legs with a baize top) ( only got rid of it the other day!) She produced wonderful things - like huge amounts of jam, picking the blackberries in the fields. There were Oil Lamps at night and the wicks had to be trimmed. Upstairs, in the Eves were 2 tiny bedrooms, in one there was a very small brass bed - a large Cot - with Feather Mattress, which had to be plumped up and which was used by visitors.(don't know how they fitted in)

I had the pony and was out and about on the farm, watching the cows being milked and teasing the Milkmen. I recall the haytime and harvest with rows of beautiful 'ricks' - well shaped - we would take a picnic to the men in the fields. We sometimes rode into the village - some distance away, and I recall Mother carrying her basket riding our dear old 'Betty' - a large, quiet, patient horse.
We bought an old pony trap, which my Mother painted yellow and upholstered the padding around the top of the seats with old curtain material - and we had a cane picnic basket made to fit in at the front (very visionary!) (I only got rid of it the other day to a nephew...!) Mother was well known for her catering, and friends would come out for the day and loved a ride in the Trap — especially the children, as often the grown-ups had to walk, especially uphill! (we said, 3penny
seats, get out and push) And perhaps they did give a gentle push as the pony, Bluebell was a 'grey' (white) and had a nasty fall and cut her knees which we had to hose with water to keep it clean - she then wore knee caps. We cleaned the harness and polished the 'Collar' with black shoe polish, and polished the brass with Brasso. (still have the photos)

A retired Country Doctor, lived in another village and would ride over for a cup of tea and talk to my Mother. He was a very wise 'old man' and very well-read. They had long discussions and lots of laughs. I recall one of his sayings: 'Greed, Envy and Jealousy will be let loose in the name of Freedom'. One of My Mother's (found recently in her books of Jottings) was 'It is a sad and inescapable Law of Life that if Free Men are not prepared to defend their Freedom - they will lose it. The price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance. Beware of being Comfortable in Fetters. Our Peril is Complacency.’

Father had petrol coupons to travel to work (It seemed a very long way then - about 35 miles) and they looked out of the windows to see the Blitz on Coventry with the sky aglow. Clothing Coupons were kept for very necessary items. We 'made-do and mend' (Recycling was the norm in those days for most spheres of existence) Father would bring home 'mutton cloths' fabric used to wrap sides of meat...Mother soaked it (probably in soda to loosen the grease) then washed and boiled and cut it up for different things. I found a 'table napkin' the other day - neatly fringed, and hand stitched to hold. There was no sewing machine, Mother did everything by hand, the neatest and smallest of stitching... in fact I found the flannel baby vests she made for me the other day! I made table mats, embroidered them and bound with bias binding, from the same material - and still have them.

Visits for us were rare and a 'treat'. We had friends who lived in Warwick, with a cottage garden going down to the river. They had the bank reinforced with wood, and we would swim on a hot day. As a matter of interest this garden is now v. famous and was shown on Gardeners World this May!

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