大象传媒

Kathleen Flanagan

When the war started in 1939 Kathleen was six years old. She lived in Redcar, and was evacuated to West Riding soon afterwards. Kathleen remembers the rationing very well. She explained how mines were placed in the North Sea by the Germans to stop imports and exports by the British. There were special ships trying to clear the Sea called minesweepers. But of course not all bombs were found in time and so rationing was introduced to the north.
Farms were used all over rural Britain to grow food in case the rationing grew worse. Overall the country became healthier during the war because more money was spent on healthy food than on luxurious goods e.g. furniture. She said that the rationing started in 1940 and ended in 1955.
Kathleen told us about the black market. She told us that cigarettes, whiskey and petrol were sold on the black market. She also has a story about the black market. Her and her father went to Southern Ireland in 1944. Her father had lost his legs in action and had artificial aluminium legs as a replacement. He had bought some nylon stockings in Ireland but they weren鈥檛 allowed into Britain. So when he went through customs, the metal detector sensed his metal legs. But the people at customs felt sorry for him and didn鈥檛 make him undress in public and let him through. His legs had been stuffed with nylon stockings and he successfully smuggled them into the country, and gave them to the women in family.

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