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My name is Sam Glass. I was born and reared in the village of Cogry near Ballyclare Co. Antrim and I was 8 years old when WWII started.

One of my early memories was the issue of Ration Books. Nothing could be purchased without the appropriate coupons. The thing which interested me most was the 鈥渟weety鈥� coupons. They came in D鈥檚 and E鈥檚 and E was twice the value of D. Each month there was an announcement of how many sweets could be bought for a coupon. Sometimes it went up and sometimes it went down, but that didn鈥檛 really matter much to us because our local sweet shop took all the coupons at the start of the book and we could get sweets when we had the money, which was more scarce than coupons.

Everyone was issued with a gas mask, in case of a gas attack. It had to be carried at all times and at school we had regular drills to see how quickly we could put them on. Babies were enclosed in theirs.

Every house had to be 鈥渂lacked out鈥� at night; this meant that absolutely no light was visible from outside. Air Raid Wardens made regular patrols to check for chinks of light.

There was a flourishing black market in country areas where farmers always had some extras for sale, after all who knew whether all hens were laying or not, or whether a litter of pigs was 5 or 6 or even more.

The Belgian Army was stationed near us and there were also Scottish soldiers nearby, but they all were ignored once the 鈥淵anks鈥� hit town.

Along the side of the road there were metal containers with a chimney and they were lit at certain times to create a smokescreen which prevented enemy planes from seeing their targets. This caused a lot of discomfort to folk with chest complaints particularly children.

There was great camaraderie amongst the neighbours and everybody shared and helped out at weddings and funerals, and lots of women worked to help the war effort and there was always a neighbour to keep an eye on the children

There were dances regularly, the cinema was in its heyday and the programme changed 3 times a week, wooden benches at the front cost 7d. (about 3p.) back stall seats 1/6 (7pence) the balcony was 2/6 (12p) there was no such thing a TV but most people were avid radio listeners.

As times got harder and the bombs were falling on Belfast, a lot of people
moved out to the country thinking it would be safer for their children, and most of them integrated well, but some had difficulty with the lack of transport and dry toilets and soon moved home again.

When the war ended there were great celebrations and there were special 鈥淲elcome Home鈥� parties for returning soldiers, usually held in the street, and often collections were made to give presents to the forces. I remember that when my brother was coming home my mother wanted a new bed for him but she didn鈥檛 have enough coupons so the neighbours all contributed so that the local hero could sleep in comfort. When my brother and two other soldiers returned there was a great celebration and a 鈥渇our wheeler鈥� (a flat back horse drawn cart) was brought up the street and a dance band sat on it and played while everyone danced and enjoyed themselves.

Another of my memories happened early in the war, when the Grange family were coming from their bungalow at Ballygalley to their pub in Ballyclare. We saw barrage balloons over head with cables attached, a barrage balloon broke loose, and the trailing cable caught the car and lifted it off the ground, and it ended up in a tree. Nobody was hurt but they were badly shocked. The Grange family owned a pub in Ballyclare, where they bottled all their own wines and spirits, they created a label for the whiskey and wine bottles featuring the silver barrage balloon above the name JW GRANGE, FINE WINES AND SPIRITS, and the motto 鈥淎bove all others,鈥� underneath. To this very day the motto is visible on the gable wall of the Grange Bar in Ballyclare.

Sam Glass

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