大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Durham Clayport Library on behalf of Jenny Shearer and has been added with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was 13 years old when W.W.2 was declared so it did not change my life too much in the beginning. We went to school as usual and there was the odd siren alarm which we thought was great fun, trooping down to the air raid shelter instead of maths lessons. We had a brick shelter built in the yard at home, my Father lined the walls with wood and my Mother and I papered it out to make it look more comfortable. We soon got fed up going into the shelter in the middle of the night because the nearest bombs were dropped in Sunderland 6 miles away. My Father was mostly in nightshift at the pit so my Mother and I took our chances in the cupboard under the stairs.

My friends and I thought walking about in the blackout was a great adventure, you never knew who you might bump into! We wore illuminated buttons in our lapels and had torches with just a chink of light showing. My brother had a verbal warning from the police for flashing his torch at a group of girls; he was grounded for a week.

I left school at 14 and started work in a grocery store so we were never really short of food. I could always be relied upon to bring home the odd 鈥渦nder the counter鈥� tin. There was always a queue for anything not on ration, the word used to spread like wildfire. We had to take turns at fire watching through the night, but we never had to demonstrate our skills with the stirrup pump thank goodness.

My Mother helped out at the Y.M.C.A canteen serving tea and snacks to the soldiers stationed in Houghton-le Spring. I joined the Girls Training Corps; we marched around Houghton very proudly in our uniforms. We did a bit of map reading and knitted 鈥淪ocks for Soldiers鈥� sure that we were doing our bit for the war effort. I was also a member of the 鈥淗igh Jinks鈥� concert party, we staged shows and pantomimes and the proceeds went to the Welcome Home Fund for local Service men and women. Going to the pictures was our main form of entertainment, with three cinemas in Houghton we were well catered for, we wept buckets at 鈥淕one With the Wind鈥� and laughed a lot at the 鈥淩oad鈥� films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, on the Newsreels Winston Churchill always got a big cheer and Hitler got a big boo! Then of course there was the Saturday night dance at the Welfare Hall. My Mother was quite handy with the sewing machine so I had many a dress made from a length of material from Chester market. We listened to the wireless a lot, there was ITMA and of course Glenn Miller and all the big bands. Lord Haw Haw made us laugh at all his propaganda 鈥� 鈥淕ermany calling Germany calling鈥�. With a lot of practice and a few disasters I learned to make a reasonably good Victoria sponge cake with dried egg powder!

My brother joined the R.A.F., he was sent to India and we did not see him again for six years. I had been 鈥済oing out鈥� with Bill Shearer since schooldays and I think the war became real to me when he joined the Royal Marines, he was in the crossing of the Rhine which was a very anxious time for us, and he later transferred to the Army Physical Training Corps where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant instructor. His photograph is at the beginning of my story.

The yanks came into the War after Pearl Harbour, they brought with them chewing gum, the jitterbug dance and nylon stockings, we had been used to painting our legs and running an eye-brow pencil down the back for a seam. There was a bit of jealousy amongst our troops who thought they were "over-paid, over-sexed and over here"!

So the War came to an end, it took a long time before we got rid of rationing but they got rid of poor old Winston, that was a shock! Bill and I were married in 1947, I remember my Mother and I travelled to my Uncle's farm near Bishop Auckland for the eggs for my wedding cake, we needed three dozen eggs and that was illegal, we were pleased to get them home unbroken. 1948 saw the "New Look" fashion come in and there I was with a brand new baby boy in a brand new Silver Cross pram in my brand "new look", we later had a beautiful baby girl.

So that was my war, nothing very exciting but for people of my age group they were our teenage years and we just got on with it. I remember my Mother saying exactly the same thing about the First World War.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.