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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Louise Treloar of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Mrs Hilary Clarke, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

My earliest memory is listening with my parents and sisters to the announcement on the radio of the outbreak of war. I had only been to school about 2 days and the school was closed for a long time, until the air raid shelters were built. When we went back we had gas masks and a little tin with a homemade scone in it as emergency rations. We were taught what to do in the event of an air raid — lying flat on the floor with our hands over the back of our head. At home we had an Anderson shelter. We girls slept in it all night during the summer. My father lined it with cork granules to cope with the condensation and we slept on bunk beds. The air raids were more like firework night to us — I remember seeing the night sky alight when the docks were hit, but we didn’t take in the significance of it. We all had collections of shrapnel. My mother managed the rations very well, although we had to stop having sugar in our tea. She made bread in the side oven. The big treat was tinned fruit for sunday tea and later in the war, tins of spam. When Thornton Varley’s department store was bombed they moved into the museum — I was fascinated by the stuffed bear and other curious objects.

I was in an isolation hospital with scarlet fever during the war — the food was awful — lumpy porridge , bullet sago, and although only 6 years old, I had to look after myself.

In 1943 I moved to Morley, near Leeds, where the war did not impact on our lives in quite the same way — apart from rationing — especially sweets!

Pr-BR

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