大象传媒

I was born at the end of 1929, midway between the end of the Great War and the start of W.W.2 into a world severely lacking in Grandads, Uncles etc. millions of whom had died in the Great War. My childhood memories are dominated by the Depression of the 20's and 30's, though my Dad had a job. He had won a Scholarship and gone to Grammar school until he was 16 (1922). My brother was born in 1936 and my sister in 1938. My Dad was called up early in the war so like many others, we were a "one parent family" with an absent Dad! I got a Scholarship in 1941 and was the first child from our very poor area of the town to go to High School (all girls!) We had to keep standards up and wear uniform and because of clothes - rationing and clothing coupons we all wore passed-on uniforms. Mine was passed on from someone who had left the school 14 years before I began there but was beautifully tailored and excellent quality and saw me through school, with a little altering of the hems -up and down - and the shoulder seams etc., In school we learned to budget both financially and with the food we were allowed. We didn't actually prepare and cook food but we learned how to do so from our teachers and Mums and Grandmas.
Our lives were geared to 'Victory' Digging for Victory - every bit of land was used for food - crops, even the soil which covered our Anderson shelters was cultivated. We collected every bit of old metal - pans, railings, to be melted down to make planes, ships, armaments. As soon as we were old enough - 7 or 8 - we learned First Aid and Home Nursing, doing more advanced work as we got more experienced. This training has stood me in good stead all my life. By the time we were 10 - 11, we became 'Runners' for the Fire-Watchers, taking messages from one to another - no telephones then - and we were safe. Any time of the night we could take our messages in safety. We were part of the war effort! We had our Auntie who worked in a laundry - all Military staff - and sometimes she got an old blanket, (we prefered Air Force Blue to Khaki) and would make us a 'dressing gown' and she also made toy elephants, again from old army blankets.
For months we slept in our clothes (NOT school clothes but old ones). When the siren went, Mum grabbed my little sister and I grabbed my brother and got our wellingtons on and got the gas masks and down the railway sidings we would go to the Railwaymen's shelter, cold, damp, dark, smelly, with just a narrow wooden board to sit on, and drink hot, sweet, almost milkless cocoa until the All Clear went. I forgot to mention that we lived in a solitary house by a marshalling yard. There was a row of houses opposite and behind these one of the biggest Loco sheds in the world (at that time). So we were a constant target for the bombers.
My little sister was not a well child. She had to go to the clinic for Sun-Ray treatment and got extra cod-liver oil and orange juice. We all had a daily dose together with a bottle of milk at school. We were never bored. We would be told to peel the potatoes or dust the furniture or sweep the floor (no carpets, just a rag-rug if you could make one) or practice the piano or do your house-work or mind the little ones or do the ironing - with a flat iron heated on the fire - or help with the washing - heat the water in the boiler at the side of the open fire, carry it to the tub and "poss" with the Dolly-stick. Then into the yard and wring it through the mangle and hang it on the line or round the fire to dry. Our house was always steamy on washing-day!
I never remember being unhappy or afraid during the war. There was always a Better Time to Look Forward to - you would be "called up" at 17+, first boys then girls and you might get to go to another country, or you might be dead within months! You might go to school in the morning and find your street just a heap of rubble. A whole family might be dead within weeks of one another, with T.B. Head Lice, Scabies, Impetigo were common but Allergies, Excema, etc., were non-existant. There were no fat people, no cars, so we had to walk. No traffic so we played on the streets, No STD's always children, not like now. No T.V. but we had vivid imaginations and we loved reading - pretty well every child could read! In Victorian times our town had a great benefactor, the Pease family, who built a Mill to give employment, and cottages round about for the employees. Also a Reading Library and a Reference Library with an Egyptian Mummy in and finally a children's library. When I was considered suitable for the children's and reference library, what a joy. It took me best part of an hour to get there (walking) unless I had a penny for the bus, but worth the trek just to ge able to read.

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