大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Bridie Wright of Wakefield Libraries and Information Services on bealf on Edna Wingate and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My father was an ARP warden and worked at Charles Roberts during the day. My mother was in the WVS with Mrs. Briggs of Lee and Briggs, the ironmongers, and Mavis Green.

We saw plenty of soldiers, as they did their six weeks training here, stationed at the Guest House at the Convent, Carr Lodge Park, the Cooperative Hall, St. Mary鈥檚 and the Methodist Hall. We had plenty of dancing partners. The first Christmas, December 1939, we had a big celebration to which they were all invited to share Christmas with the families of Horbury. No one was left out 鈥� the firewatchers took turns, one leaving as another one came in. I remember the nights out at the Primrose Hall, Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 鈥� the place was buzzing. When they ran out of money, we paid! Some of the places seem to be wasted spaces now, or pulled down.

I remember the soldiers being sent some blankets, woven straight from the sheep鈥檚 back, which were riddled with ticks. All the lads ended up with scabies and my mother and others had to take them down to the chapel on School Lane to scrub the lads down.

In 1939, my brother joined up with Stanley Dunford. My brother was in the Army (Royal Artillery) whereas Stanley went into the RAF.

My brother was sent off to the Lotofen Islands in Norway in December and none of the lads had the right clothes for the cold weather. He was brought back with the others suffering from frostbite. On the train down to Colchester Hospital he jumped off at Wakefield Westgate and walked (painfully) home. He was crying when he came in at 3am, saying 鈥淚f I go to Colchester, they鈥檒l take me feet off.鈥� I went for Dr. Hugh Neil of Tithe Barn Street who came straight back with me. The doctor took Kenneth鈥檚 boots off and bathed them alternately in hot and cold water for what seemed like weeks. We all shed tears, but he finally got better.

He returned to army service and went off to Gibraltar with the Royal Artillery, helping the 8th Army in the Sahara with the guns. Returning to Gibraltar he stayed there until the end of the war keeping the Jerries out of the Mediterranean.

He came home in 1945 and was demobbed and all they gave him was a navy blue pinstripe suit.

My brother in law, Ronnie Jones, was in the King鈥檚 Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and went off to Burma, met up with the 鈥淲ingate鈥檚 Chindits鈥�. Ronnie was with the Ghurkhas in Burma. He never saw a Jap, just the destruction caused by war.

He met up with Stanley Dunford in Delhi, India and did quite a lot of story swapping. Ronnie didn鈥檛 come back until the end of the war with Japan in late 1945.

We didn鈥檛 go to the seaside during the war; all the beaches were covered in barbed wire and sea defences to keep any invasion force out. So, in 1944, my friend Joyce and I wrote off about a farming holiday. We had two weeks holiday in the July. I can鈥檛 remember just how we got there but we went to Easingwold. Crayke Castle was our base.
There were quite a lot of boys and girls. We were aged between 16 and 25. We were allotted our camp beds and lots of rooms in the lovely castle. Some of us had to go out on the different farms, but Joyce and I said we would stay at home in the castle and clean and help with the meals. We enjoyed it very much and made lots of friends. In the evening we walked down into Easingwold to the local pub. We had shandies and lots of fun with the locals. We played cards and dominoes and talked. It was lots of fun and a lovely holiday. The castle is now a private house and I would love to go and see it again.

I really don鈥檛 know how my Mum managed with the rations, but Dad and me always had a dinner on the table when we came home from work. Rabbits and offal weren鈥檛 on ration and people kept chickens so that was a treat now and again. Mum baked bread. We were never scared in the blackout. We had no louts in those days. People were nice to each other, we walked a lot and we worked hard. My Dad always told me that the Germans would never take me so I was never afraid. We knew what was going on in the Occupied countries and I think that gave us the strength to carry on. We weathered the storm, our brave boys came home, no longer boys and we began to live again.

My Dad turned over the entire garden to the growing of vegetables, as did all our neighbours. Sometimes we got lucky and got tins of dried egg, then we got Yorkshire Puddings mid-week as well as on Sundays. Sometimes Teddy Bradley got 鈥淧igs Fry鈥� 鈥� that was liver, kidneys and sweetbreads, so half a pound of that would go into the oven 鈥� a fire oven, York Range 鈥� and it produced the most wonderful gravy, yummy!
I can still taste it now, with a dish of potatoes and onion slices and Yorkshires. Fit for a king. (Teddy Bradley was the butcher in our street)

Another memory is of my brother鈥檚 wedding. When the lads were set free from the Burma Railway they were sent to Australia to recuperate. They came home for my brother鈥檚 wedding in the November, far from well, and very yellow. They were in the Norfolk Regiment and my sister in law came from Norfolk. Nearly all the men from her village were on the Burma Railway. Some of them came home and they were the lucky ones.

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