大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from CSVBerkshire, Amy Williams, on behalf of Doug Bukin and has been added to the site with his permission and he fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

When the war was declared on 3rd September 1939 I was 10 years old. I lived with my parents in the northern part of the east end of London.

My grandfather, a lovely old man, took me to the shops in Walthamstow on a Saturday afternoon during the war. He gave me sixpence to buy a torch in Woolworths. The torch was made of green mottled Bakelite with a bullseye lens. I loved it. Everyone carried a torch in those days due to the blackout. We all had torches as it was the only way you could get about. The sale of batteries must have been terrific.

On the way home we called in to collect a pair of shoes my grandfather had left at a little cobbler's shop, a shoe repairer's. In those days you called a shoe repairer a 'snob'. A 'snob' was the name for a cobbler. I don't often hear it used now, but in those days they were snobs.

The shop's owner was a poor little stooped chap. We went in through the front door of his little cottage. His shop was the front room of his cottage where he did his repairs. He worked by a gaslight, not a very good one, because he couldn't afford electricity. I showed him my torch, and he'd never seen one before or such a bright light.

My very kind grandfather suggested that I gave it to the cobbler. The cobbler was delighted and kept on putting it on and off. My torch had gone, but I felt quite happy about this. It was a nice gesture and even at that age I appreciated it. Although I missed my torch my grandfather was right to give it to the poor old chap. It was a nice gesture.

This shows how different it was for people then. The cobbler was working away with his shoes, repairing them in the poor light, one little gaslight, and he sees this torch and it's like something amazing to him. That's just how we would react today if we saw a laser beam. I was so pleased to see the pleasure on this little stooped man's face to get hold of this torch. Whether he ever bought batteries for it I've no idea.

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