大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War by Edward Fawcett for Three Counties Action on behalf of Sheila Turner and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. I was one of five living in Potters Bar with my mother and father. My father was called up into the RAF and was stationed in Stafford looking after stores of equipment. As I was the eldest my mother made it clear I had to help with getting the chidren ready for school, doing the shopping ( my mother didn't seem to like shopping ). We were registered with the local Co Op, you couldn't go anywhere like you can these days. If you were nice to the person behind the counter you sometimes maybe get a bit extra cheese or something else which was not necessarily on ration. I remember the dried eggs which were used to make cakes or even an omlette by reconstituting them with milk. There were lots of things you couldn't get at all. I particularly remember having no bananas because my brother never saw a banana until after the war and when my mother finally gave him one after the war he tried to eat it with the skin on. It was very difficult to get clothes because of the clothing coupon situation. Buying one skirt could use all your coupons. When the bombing raids first started we were scared. Even now hearing an air-raid siren gives me the creeps. Hearing the All-Clear was wonderful.After a while we tended to ignore the raids, just turn over and go back to sleep.Everyone used to look forward to Dad coming home on leave as he always brought home sweets. The two youngest boys used to wait just inside the door so they could grab them.One thing which hit my mother very hard was when a German land mine landed on Potters Bar cemetary and blew up the chidren's graves.My sister Molly's grave(who was six and a half when she died)was completely destroyed,vanished.

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