大象传媒

War Years in Collyhurst part one
My name is Harold Maher I am 71 years of age,and grandchildren often ask me what is was like when I was young and when I think further I realise that if I don`t try and record some of my life,particularly during the war years,no one will ever know I existed.So here is my amateurish attempt to record some of the detail and events of that time.I sometimes smile to myself when I think of some of the happenings whilst we were playing.In Manchester at that time ,it was commonplace for parents to `Shout`their kids in .They would stand at their doorway and yell their kids names ,
And sometimes we would answer "What?",then they would probably shout"Come here",and we would answer with "F****Off,then you would hear them threatening what they would do when they got their hands on their offsprings ,but as we were in the dark or the fog they never ever saw us .The darkness then had to be seen to be believed ,as it was war time there was no street lighting,no light from houses or shops,just moonlight or starlight and it was very,very, black,but I sometimes wondered what happened when those kids eventually went home.It always seemed to be foggy ,clean air had`nt been thought of then ,and sometimes you could hardly see your hand in front of your face .Many times, during the fog,I`ve found my way home by following the tram lines ,our Michael whilst doing the same one night ,ended up face to face with a tram ,I don`t know who was scared most ,Michael, or the tram driver.I once wrote an essay on the weather ,and I said that the smoke from open fires mixed with the fog and made it thicker and harder to clear.I was ridiculed by the teacher ,who brought me out in front of the whole class ,and said"This boy, thinks Fog is smoke "and I was made to feel like a right idiot ,later in life when `Smog` came on the scene,I wished I could have gone back and confronted that teacher.Some nights we did`nt play games but collected `Salvage` for the`war effort`,we normally started by collecting jam jars, for which we received a ha`penny each.Then when we had collected sixpence we hired a handcart from Jimmy Murphy ,the local rag and bone man , then we went round and collected any old metal,rubber paper ,cardboard especially from the shops ,in fact anything that would help the war effort. We took it to a special collection depot and they gave us a ticket ,saying how much we had collected ,and this we took into our school .We had special graphs in school showing the total collected ,and local schools competed against each other ,this collecting salvage ,and other forms of help,ie knitting for the troops was commonly called the War Effort . One other point about collecting jam jars ,the lady we took them to, in one of the arches in New Allen St.,near to Livesey St., was the mother of a very famous Radio star called `Enoch`.He appeared in a very popular radio show called `Happidrome`,with Harry Korris .Whilst on the subject of radio which was our only entertainment apart from the `Flicks`,we were all avid listeners especially to the news and programmes like `I.T.M.A.`.I well remember Hess`s "Garmany Calling",and all the rubbish he spilled out ,trying to demoralise us ,but I don`t think he ever succeeded as he became a laughing stock .But I think `Rationing ` demoralised the British more than anything, you had to have `Points` for sweets ,for Clothes ,and you could`nt even get a banana unless you had a ration book for a child under 5 .My Dad was always moaning because he could`nt get any decent cigarettes .And "Under the counter " entered our language ,let me explain ,if a shopkeeper had something in short supply ,he kept it `under the counter` for his regulars ,and usually you could`nt get it for love nor money. Also about this time another phrase entered our language "The black market" ,this was illegal trade in anything and everything that was in short supply ,from clothing and sweet coupons to petrol coupons ,if you had the money you could still buy almost anything .Because cigarettes were scarce and deliveries irregular, when the local shops had a delivery,the `Bush Telegraph` went to work and there was usually a queue formed, sometimes around the block .Many a morning I and my brother Michael, have joined my mam queuing at Dennis`s which was a local cigarette shop opposite the end of Livesey St., on Oldham Rd.The cigarettes usually turned out to be `Pasha``Black Cat` or some other weird brand that normally would`nt sell ,but in wartime people smoked anything .I`ve seen my dad smoke tea leaves in brown paper .I remember at one period we were down to collecting dimps or cadging fags from the yanks to fuel my dad`s yearning for fags,but as he spent most of his life sat in a chair I suppose it`s forgiveable ,it always seemed so unfair to me that when my dad was in France in the first world war at the young age of 16 he was gassed ,but because his regiment was`nt supposed to be where there was gas ,he was refused a decent pension,I think he received about 8 shillings weekly but this was for bad wounds to his ankle and leg .One `Lady`,who lived in our street, called Gladys ,was very friendly with the yanks,and she would often bring my dad cigarettes and us sweets from the yanks .One funny incident comes to mind regarding this lady ,one day when she was `entertaining` the yanks,her two kids came out with `French Letters`now called `Condoms`,blown up like balloons ,to keep them quiet, You can imagine the gossip this caused ,as French Letters were never discussed in public and certainly never displayed in such an innocent fashion .Round about this time ,in school, my mates were starting to smoke,and they dared me to try it ,so I pinched one of my dad`s cigs,and met up with them behind the school toilets.There was I ,trying to be one of the boys, but what I did`nt know, was that the cig I had pinched was a Potters Asthma cigarette ,and the thick foul tasting smoke put me off smoking for good ,which turned out to be a blessing, though I did`nt know it at the time .
Another of our pastimes was collecting ,anything and everything, once when we were making a football pitch for St.Pats,on Barneys,a huge wild area,we unearthed lots of clay pipes .They had bowls shaped like devils heads,sailors heads ,horses heads ,some were shaped like dragons , we used them for bubble pipes,but mainly we used them for chalk .We had`nt the sense to realise that they might be valuable one day .We also collected Stamps,Cigarette cards,Lead soldiers,Shrapnel,Army badges,and what`s now called Militaria.At one time I must have had over 200 Cap badges ,we were always cadging them from soldiers ,American,Polish,Free French,Canadians,Aussies,and of course our own lads .I remember in later years ,when I entered the R.A.F. at 18 ,I had a huge box full of all this Militaria ,mainly cap badges ,and my mam threw it down the local tip .At the time anything to do with the war was interesting to us ,and war games were quite commonplace ,most of the streets locally were well suited to playing at war .Nearly every street had at least one bombed house we could play in,we climbed on roofs,we dropped from upstairs windows, climbed over rubbish and wreckage with our wooden guns ,hid in cellars,and to us the bomb damaged areas were just somewhere to play.I remember one time we were playing in an old terraced house in Gaylor St. known locally as `Hatties`,and a lad was playing with us ,he was upstairs and he fell down through the rafters ,fell through the rafters on the ground floor, and ended up in the cellar ,and the amazing thing is he only twisted his ankle .But we never really appreciated the danger in what we were doing ,it was just the enviroment we lived in, though I don`t think the word enviroment had even been thought of then.
Another of our great passions at that time was the Cinema,we had about 12 cinemas within walking distance,and when we could afford it we went,which was`nt very often.The most popular, because it was the cheapest,was the Butler Picture House in Butler St.,quite a posh sounding name,locally it was known as the `Bug Hut`.The man who owned it was called Gordon Wray,and he was forever walking round with a large `Flit` spray.You would be sitting watching the film when this perfumed cloud descended on you,he always said it was to combat smoking,but we thought it was to kill the bugs.I know we were always `Lousy` after we`d been to the `Bug Hut`.
I vividly remember when Reather St., was bombed ,a Land Mine demolished two whole blocks of terraced houses ,and left an enormous crater .The`Malloys` were having a birthday party ,I think it was for their Grandmother ,and many of them were killed in the explosion.As usual with children there were all the ghoulish reports circulating ,one said they had to count the hands and feet ,to find out how many were in the house ,as they were so badly mutilitated ,but you took it with a pinch of salt as we were always trying to outdo each other with tall tales . But it was true that a land mine did demolish most of the street and quite a few people died .The day after the air raid ,when the Police,A.R.P.,and Fireman were sorting it all out ,I really got into trouble .As I`ve said previously ,we all collected shrapnel which seemed to litter the streets after an Air Raid,and when we went to look at this enormous crater,which had`nt even been cordoned off then,I saw a large piece of the land mine, with the german swastika painted on it and some obvious german writing .So without thinking I climbed down the sides of the smouldering crater ,and retrieved my prize,then all hell broke loose,I was surrounded by officials ,"Did`nt I know the sides were likely to collapse?",,that the gas main was fractured ,the sewers were fractured etc etc.The final ignominy was when a large local`bobby`known as`Scarface`,threw me over his shoulder to take me home ,still clutching my prize.And all the way home he would occasionally give me me a smack on my rear with his cane ,saying"You won`t do that again ,will you",then when I finally arrived home I had another `Hiding`from my mam ,and was put to bed ,but I did get my piece of land mine ,and was the envy of my pals .Later on my dad gave it to a friend of ours who was in the R.A.F. to have a model plane made for me ,but unfortunately he was killed in the Battle of Britain so I never saw it again .

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