大象传媒

This story was submitted to the Peoples War site by a volunteer from 大象传媒 Radio Derbys CSV action desk, on behalf of Mrs Margaret Ann White (nee Woolley), and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

As a child, during the war, I lived with my grandparents, on their farm, at Sudbury in Derbyshire.
I remember my mother coming over from Mickleover, in Derby, to help paint the shed roofs. They were red ochre, and in the moonlight, with dew on them, they were visible from the air, so had to be painted black. The neighbouring farmer had to cover a lorry load of lime, and hayricks with tarpaulins, for the same reason.
My grandfather made a square wooden frame, to fit the side window, and then covered it with roofing felt, so that no trace of light could be seen from the outside. Inside the house, all the windows had a thick blue material, similar to Denim, as curtains. The living room had dark green folding shutters to stop the light.
When I was frightened, as the air raid sirens sounded on Nestles factory at Hatton, my grandfather would take me into the garden to watch the searchlights criss cross the night sky, sometimes there would be an orange glow in the direction of Derby where the bombs had fallen. Later the sirens would sound the all clear. Even today, at the age of 69, I have to choke back the tears, and feel like I have had cold water poured down my back, whenever I hear a siren.
Around the age of three or four, if I heard a German plane overhead, I would jump onto my grandfathers knee, and would take off his white neckerchief, pretending to be a nurse, I would bandage his hand; he had lost all the fingers of his left hand in an accident when he was fourteen, and then pretend to put his arm in a sling. I only did this for 鈥淛erry鈥� planes, RAF planes were known as 鈥渙ne of Mrs Smiths鈥�. We had two RAF aerodromes close by: Church Broughton, only about a mile away and Burnaston. The farmer鈥檚 sheep next door would all gather and bleat, around a fallen tree next to our garden, whenever the planes flew over.
Being farmers, we had to keep records of all our animals for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The local policeman would fill in the forms; this was to control the black market. We had to smuggle corn from other farmers; we would take the horse and cart, and buy three or four bags, which we would then hide under hay or straw.
There was, of course, rationing at this time. We had a ration book with coupons in. Each time you bought anything, the grocer would take out a coupon. There were different coloured coupons, I鈥檓 not sure if each colour was for a week or a month. We used to swap bacon, cheese, eggs and butter, for other groceries like sugar etc. Sweets were rationed to a quarter of a pound per person. I remember having a Mars bar cut into seven pieces, one for each day.
Most children wore second hand clothes, usually hand me downs from older brothers, sisters or cousins. I only had a new dress for the school Christmas party, which was put on by Lord and Lady Vernon of Sudbury Hall. We had a conjuror and a film show, before going over the road to the big school for tea, which was a sausage roll, two sandwiches, a cake, jelly and blancmange with a drink of tea. We had a great time.
There were a lot of evacuees staying at Sudbury Hall. Lord and Lady Vernon would let them play in the great hall. Some of the village children were allowed to play with them. In the middle of the hall was a huge rocking horse 鈥� that was my favourite!
We didn鈥檛 have gas, electricity or mains water laid on at the farm. My grandparents had chairs, side by side, near the radio, which worked off a large battery. Even that was rationed to a few evenings a week. The news had to be on as much as possible to listen to Mr Churchill鈥檚 announcements, and to Mr Attlee, we even listened to Lord Haw Haw from Germany.
During the latter part of the war, I would help my uncle Frank to do the garden, which was a quarter of an acre. We grew lots of fruit and vegetables to last us through the winter. The army came and bought rhubarb, eggs and fruit from us.
I remember going to Uttoxeter market and buying day old Light Sussex cockerels, to rear and fatten up, to sell to the army at nearby Foston. I had several letters of thanks from them, including one for young turkeys.
The airmen stationed at Foston used to call and spend the evening talking to grandfather about the war. On leaving some would say 鈥渨e have a job to do tonight!鈥� Some never came back! One plane that did get back had twenty three bullet holes in it, yet no one on board was injured!
I remember when the war ended, going over to Derby. There were flags everywhere; across streets, hanging from windows, in fact they were everywhere you looked.
In Sudbury, we had a huge bonfire in the park, with effigies of Hitler, Goebbels and Mussolini on it.
It must have been a time of great relief for all the soldiers coming home, and for the families who had waited so long for them.

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