大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries on behalf of Elizabeth Quinn and has been addded to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

My dad was a boy sailor in WWI and stayed in the Reserve until 1936. When WWII broke out he volunteered straight away. Mother went mad with him - she had 5 girls at home aged between 5 and 15!!

I worked in a shop - I should have gone to High School but we needed the money.
I worked in a dress shop in Paisley, I did all the alterations. I started on 14 shillings a week - not bad money!!. Out of that I had 2 shillings for bus fares and 2 shillings pocket monet - mother had the rest! She got 35 shillings a week from the Government to keep us all and from that she had to pay 14 shillings rent.
Mother would literally "make do and mend". She would spend hours on the sewing machine, people round about would pay her to make clothes for them. As girls we'd scrounge our aunts old party clothes from them and make clothes for ourselves. One lady gave us a really good quality coat - out of it I made a skirt , a bolero and a handbag! I still make do and mend today - it's a hard habit to break!!
The shop I worked in had some fantastic woollies, I was good at knitting as well as sewing and only had to look at a garment to be able to copy it - I was always fashionable but at half the price!!
I particularly remember a military style jumper with short sleeves, piped with red, double buttons down the front and buttons on the epaulettes - it was in navy and red in the shop, I copied it in turquoise and brown to match the skirt I mentioned before!!
Glasgow was hit badly during the war. I remember the tenements were flattened. People were bussed all over the place to get them shelter afterwards. Paisley Museum and the Library took a lot of people in. They were all in their nightclothes so they were given emergency clothing coupons and came into the shop I worked in to get clothes - the shop was called Duttie.

Elizabeth Quinn

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