大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Rosemarie Grundon. She fully understand the terms and conditions.

Sheep鈥檚 head stew

I was 11 when war was declared.
It made quite an impact at school. The school playing fields were dug over to grow food for the war effort and shelters built in the playground. We carried our gas masks everywhere with us, and all the school trips stopped as there was no petrol for non essential journeys, but that did mean that the roads were empty and safer.
Little things like having chocolate and fish and chips became rare treats. If the local sweetshop had a delivery of chocolate, word would quickly spread amongst friends, and the local fish and chip shop could only open occasionally, as fish, like all food, was scarce.
My 2 brothers and I lived with my grandparents as my mother had died when I was a baby; Granddad started work at 4 in the morning and after a late lunch and a snooze, he would go off to the allotment to grow as much as he could for us. After school, my grandmother would give me an enamel can with a lid and handle which was full of tea to take to Granddad at the allotment.

I can remember Grandma making a stew from a sheep鈥檚 head by cooking it for 24hours with vegetables on the old black range in the living room. It would last for 2-3 days so it made the most of rationed meat.

We all went to Holy Trinity Church in Hinckley. The choir was short of singers because so many men had gone off to the war, so I became a member and I loved to sing every Sunday.
Church was a big part of most people鈥檚 lives then, and I helped with the Sunday school too

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