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I spent the war in Peacehaven. I was working on the land, casual work — hoeing, picking peas, gathering potatoes by hand - in all weathers. I was married and had 4 children, therefore I was exempt from war service. My husband was in the fire service.

On one occasion we were sheltering from a raid and waiting for the all clear while the children were at school and I needed to go home. So we went out, and on the country road I heard a bang behind me. When we looked behind us we saw a bit of metal on the ground. We had been warned not to touch anything, but on the way back I saw this piece of shrapnel again, so I picked it up and made a ring from it!

Rationing became necessary as food became scarce. One day I was told there was no meat at the butchers, but the butchers boy returned from a previous customer with a rabbit on a tray. I bought it and from it made numerous meals. We had issues of bananas, and once we had a few lemons, but no oranges. Somehow we were always hungry, but we had plenty of vegetables which kept us in good health.

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