大象传媒

This joint story is submitted to the People's War site by Aileen May, volunteer of Kirriemuir Library, on behalf of Mrs Margaret Steadman and Miss Jean Nicol, and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site's terms and conditions.

Personal details: Margaret - "My father had a bakery and sub-post office business in Glamis Road in Kirriemuir, I was 16 years old when the war broke out and worked in my father's shop then and throughout the war".

Jean - "I was 19 years old when the war broke out. I lived in Muir Street, Kirriemuir, with my mother and aunt. They worked in the jute factory in kirriemuir and I worked in Margaret's father's shop, the bakery and the post office".

We remember vividly the day the war started. It was a Sunday and we had to work in the Post Office. Until then it was unheard of for the Post Office to open on a Sunday. We were open so that we could give out the "books" to people who were going to look after evacuee children. The children were evacuated from Dundee. We cannot recall if the "books" were made up of coupons to be traded for goods, or if they were for cash.

In the bakery customers handed over coupons for bread. We had to cut out the coupons from the ration books. At the end of each month we had to count all the coupons and return them to the Food Office.

Every so often Margaret's father got a ration of fruit, for example, sultanas. He would use this to bake cakes. News would get out that the baker had fruit cakes and soon a queue would develop. It was common to see queues, sometimes people joined a queue without knowing what they were queueing for, a queue was just a sign that something was available to buy.

Margaret - "I remember a friend of my mother's was staying with us on holiday when war broke out. On the first day the friend did not feel well. We thought this was due to the news of the outbreak of war, however the friend said she did not think this was so but could not explain her illness. On the 4th September 1939, on the 8.00a.m. news it was announced that the cruise liner "Athenia" had been sunk. The friend's father worked as a purser on the "Athenia", my mother had the sad job of telling her friend the news of the ships' sinking. I don't think there were any survivors".

We remember the blackout well. However we were not afraid to walk around in dark. If you carried a torch you had to point it down towards the ground. There were black-out shutters an all the windows. A black-out frame was fitted to the doorway of the shop. The shop was open from 6.00a.m. to 7.00a.m.from Monday to Friday, and from 6.00a.m. to 9.00p.m. on Saturdays.

During the blackout we used to help the "roll boys" make their deliveries. We would go out at 6.00a.m. making deliveries on foot in severe weather and in complete darkness.

Jean - "I remember that you got 10 extra clothing coupons if you had to wear overalls to work. The ten coupons allowed you to buy two overalls but we did not always use the coupons for this. I have still got my clothing ration book".

Everything was rationed, but we did not go short because of working in bakery shop. The flour came in sacks and we used to wash and bleach the empty sacks and make them into pillowcases.

The post office was a focal point in the community. Very few homes had telephones, there was a telephone box in the post office and people used to ask us to make phone calls for them because they did not know how to use the phone.

Just outside Kirriemuir there was a community of travelling people. All their men were called up to the war. We used to help the women by reading their letters to them and writing replies as they could not do this themselves.

We remember having gas masks, also the presence of the Home Guard and the Air Raid Precaution Wardens. We used to see the searchlights in the sky over Dundee and hear the air raid sirens.

There were troops in Kiriemuir, first an English regiment then Polish soldiers. They were billeted in local halls. We used to help at the soldiers canteen The churches organized a rota of volunteers, and we joined other church members in this.

Many of the church halls were used as classrooms as soldiers were stationed in schools. Quite a few local girls married Polish soldiers.

Margaret - "My husband, whom I maried in 1946, joined the airforce in 1941. He served in Burma. He never talked about his war experiences".

On 17th May 1945 we helped hold the Southmuir Fete and Sale of Work to raise funds for the Welcome Fund for Soldiers. We had stalls with baking, sweets, brick-a-brack and other things. The event was attended by a large crowd. We raised 拢160. Jean still has a press cutting and photograph of the event.

We remember V.E. Day - people were dancing in the streets and The Square of Kirriemuir.

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