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Moira, Margaret and Lillian can remember going to school with their gas masks; if you forgot it you had to go home for it. Used to get a half day off school to go and pick potatoes on the farms. There was never traffic on the main roads and we used to play with tops and whips on the main roads.

The women used to meet up in each other’s houses to knit socks and scarves for the men in the forces. You had to economise on everything and there was a government advert ‘the squander bug’ to remind you not to waste anything. Moira, Margaret and Lillian had jumble sales in backyards and raised £4 and 4 shillings for the spitfire fund. That was a great achievement in those days. They had to ask the local policeman for permission to hold the sale and he gave them lots of things to sell. The event was advertised in the post office and was a great success — a great community spirit.

Lily can remember looking out of her bedroom window and seeing the bombs going off in Newcastle. When the war first started before they got the air raid shelters, when the siren went you had to go into the drift mouth of the coal pit — it was very dark! Moira can remember being frightened for her dad who was on firewatch. There were no signposts so if you were invaded the enemy didn’t know where to find things. It was difficult for anyone travelling, especially away from where you lived.

Margaret came from Edinburgh and was in the Women’s Airforce, based in Ouston near Stanley. She stayed with people in Wylam. Margaret met and married a man from Gateshead and stayed in the area. Margaret’s husband was in the merchant navy.
Disclaimer: Submitted by Carole Nesbit at Consett Library on behalf of Moira, Margaret and Lilian

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