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WORLD WAR II - 3 SEPTEMBER 1939 TO 14 MAY 1945

On 3 September 1939 war was declared and ended 14 May 1945.

I lived in the village of Croston, Near Preston in Lancashire.

Everyone was issued with ration books. We had to have dried eggs instead of real ones. The
dried eggs had to be mixed with water. Our milk came in a churn carried on a pony and trap
and the milkman ladled the milk into a jug.

Occasionally we bought 'black market' butter as my mother was not in good health and
needed the additional nourishment.

Other foods which were rationed included butter, sugar and meat. If the butcher had any
meat left after giving people their rations he would make up 3d of bits for a hot-pot.

Bananas sometime because available and you could always tell when they had arrived as you
could see people running to the local shop.

For clothes we had clothing coupons.

In the village we had some evacuees who came from the London area, some of the children
settled down and others were very unhappy.

I was 17 years old when the war broke out; I was a cotton weaver at the Jubilee Mill, Moor
Road, Croston.

The Mill has now all been pulled down and it is a large new housing estate.

We were all issued with gas masks which we had to carry to work. When the sirens went off
the factory engine was stopped, we had to get our coats and gas masks and make our way
home until the air raid shelter was available. Many times we had just arrived home when the
'all clear' was sounded and we had to make our way back to work. During the war it was not
possible to get cotton so we knew the Mill would eventually have to close down. As time
went by and the factory was going to close we were taken so many at a time to the
Ammunition Dump at Euxton, near Chorley for medicals as there were jobs going their on a
three shift basis – mornings, afternoon and nights.

I failed my medical there with my eyesight, as I had to wear spectacles, so for a while I
carried on working at the factory. After I had left the factory was bombed and the night
watchman lost his life.

I did get another job at Dick Kerrs (English Electric Works) in Preston. The factory was
making aircraft. This was working in the Stores which had aeroplane parts. All the parts
were numbered and the factory staff brought dockets listing the parts they needed. We
started work at 7.30 and I travelled on the 7.03 train from Croston and then walked to the
factory. We had to work on Sundays. As there were no buses on Sunday to get us to work
on time about six of us used to bike to what was known s the Toll Bar, Bretherton and the
people that lived there were kind and let us leave our bikes and we managed to catch a bus
there to get us to work on time and the same coming home – we got the bus from Preston to
the Toll Bar and then biked home. Many, many times we were wet through if it was raining
when we were biking home. I worked there for a couple of years, made many good friends
and I had some very good workmates.

As time went on there was another Ammunition Dump being build at Ulnes Walton, near
Leyland. About six of us that were working at Dick Kerrs heard about interviews being there
so we went for an interview and we all got jobs there. It was much easier to travel to Ulnes
Walton. We went by bicycle as it was only three miles from my home. The trouble was we
had a problem getting our release from Dick Kerrs at that time. We did eventually manage to
get released and I worked at Ulnes Walton until the end of the war and we were made
redundant. I worked in the Stores were we had TNT. Whilst there I broke my foot larking
about to keep warm and once back at work went to help staff on the switchboard. From
Ulnes Walton we often cycled to Leyland Market in our lunch hour to by lisle stockings.

I met my future husband at the Dump, he was a joiner working there. He was one of a group
of workers who moved around on difficult contracts. He had not been allowed to join the
Forces having suffered from TB as a child.

My father worked on the railway doing track maintenance on the Preston to Liverpool line
which in those days was a direct route. My dad had served in the First World Ward. My
mother was a housewife but was never in good health as she suffered from thyroidtoxicosis.

The men that hadn't been called up in the Services used to take it in turns to do firewatching.
All the windows in the houses had to be blacked out, no light showing through.

For entertainment we went to Jackson's Pictures in the village and saw Laurel and Hardy
films.

Wednesday night was cheap night and buses brought people in from surrounding villages.
The picture often broke down at which point everyone would stamp their feet.

Concert parties came once a week to the Dump and included singers and comedians.

On Saturday nights there were dances at the Comrades Hall in the village. My dad was a
volunteer bouncer.

We danced the quick step, foxtrot. Palisade glide and military two step. There were soldiers
billeted in a nearby village and they were sometimes allowed to attend.
On Sundays it was Sunday School, Chapel and Sunday School. There were two Methodist
Chapels in the village. Emmanuel Methodist and Trinity Methodist and we attended between
the two. We also had a radio which ran on very large batteries which lasted about a week and
had to be recharged at a local garage – cost 4d. It was very difficult to carry the batteries
because the acid leaked out.

Our house had gas lights and paraffin heaters and we also used night lights. Because we had
no electricity my mother used a flat iron heated on the kitchen range. She also had one which
worked by heating a piece of metal on the fire until it was red hot and then it was put into the
back of the iron – this always terrified me.

For shoes we wore clogs which had to be re-ironed.

During the war my sister and myself used to collect 2p each week from every house in
Westhead Road the funds were kept by a neighbour, and when the war was over and things
had got back to normal we hired a couple of coaches and all had a day out at Blackpool.

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