大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by (Helen Smith) on behalf of (Norma Stafford) and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was born in 1936 so I was only a child. i remember rationing and the I.D cards. You were allowed 1/4 of sweets per week. Sugar and butter was also rationed. The ration book had coupons to be cut out. Some foods were put in ration after the war. We did not see much fruit either. I don't know if fish was rationed, but other than fish and chips we did not see that much fish.

We also had clothing coupons. We had no central heating so we had to use boulders of coal. There was no carpets, just lino so it was very cold. we used to make home made rugs (peg rugs) out of coats. We cut the coats into strips and pulled them through with a peg. We mixed all sorts of colours and materials for these rugs. They got very dirty and we had to take them outside and beat them clean.

We had no wallpaper, it was destemper (a powder mix that you put on the wall). It used to dry, then peel or flake off.

We used "step stone" to clean the house step. Another way was "Red Cardinal" which was a polish in a tin that we used on the step to bring it up clean.

we had a bottle that we used to wash with. I also remember "Rinso", "Snowflakes" (the woollies) and "Fairy Soap" were all used for everything.

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