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This story has been submitted by Alison Tebbutt, Derby CSV Action Desk on behalf of T A Trigg. The author has given his permission.

The war was declared the day after I came back from holiday in Coombe Martin with the Stones family. School opening was delayed for a few days or weeks until the Air Raid Shelters had been completed, but after that school activities during the day went on much as before. In fact, for several months the day-to-day life did not seem very much affected. Although we were now officially at war, the clouds had been gathering for along time but I’m not going to write a history of that, it can be read in a dozen history books.

The first major effect on most of us, who were not of military service age, was the Black-Out. This came into effect immediately and necessitated the fitting of black material to all windows so that with the lights on inside, not a vestige of light could be seen from outside. Also, when house doors were opened, either the inside lights were extinguished or a system of curtains arranged so that people could enter or leave without showing a light to the street. Shops and public buildings had to have a similar arrangement, in other words, there had to be a light trap behind the door. Uncle Frank had to make one for our shop.

The lights on motor vehicles and cycles were also limited to such an extent that it was almost impossible to see where one was going and hand torches were also limited in power. Everyone carried a torch when going into the street, but even so, with no street lighting, unless there was a moon, collisions between people and between people and lamp-posts, walls, pillar boxes etc. were commonplace. Serious injuries were not uncommon.

The next imposition was petrol rationing and, I am not sure when, but there came a time when there was no, or hardly any, basic ration and private cars almost disappeared from the roads. Supplementary rations were available for essential services, doctors, good deliveries, emergency services, travelling to work for people who had no other means of transport etc. Under black-out conditions and petrol rationing one hardly ever encountered a motor vehicle, after dark, other than the occasional bus. It is now hard to imagine what it was like with today’s traffic. Most people had bicycles in those days and so this was the main means of transport. One also saw the odd vehicle equipped with a gas bag. This was a large inflatable bag the size of a vehicle roof, that could be filled with coal, gas, and the engine was modified to run on it. There were very few in the Burton area.

At the outbreak of war every able bodied man between the ages of seventeen and about fifty was liable to be ‘called up’ for military service unless he was incapacitated, in a reserved occupation o could show good reason why he was needed at home. Father had no problem on several counts, he had already been invalided out of the Army in the First World War and he was the only man capable of running a business that was declared essential-Confectioner. Uncle Frank however was not so protected and he joined the National Fire Service, as a Driver/Fireman.

In addition Father volunteered as an Air Raid Warden. This was a man who, after being trained in the basics of First Aid, emergency fire fighting and procedures to be adopted in the event of an air raid, was given such equipment as a steel helmet (with W on the front), a standard torch, whistle, stirrup pump for fighting fires and an Arm Band with ARP on it. Whenever there was an air raid alert sounded he would have to go out and petrol his area. This involved advising people to take cover, enforcing the black-out and in the event of an emergency dealing with it until the emergency services arrived. We had plenty of air raid warnings but, as far as Burton was concerned, only one or two actual bombs fell. I remember that some people were killed in Wood Street.

Although both our house and Stone’s had cellars our parents got together and decided that the most convenient and comfortable I think, for reinforcement was across the road at Lester’s. Mr Lester was the local tobacconist. It was quite large and, using some railway sleepers that we had up in the garden, the roof was shored up and about a dozen sleeping bunks provided. There was a period, it was during my High School Certificate because I can remember doing my revision, that we spent quite a few nights there, it would be early summer 1942.

From Burton, at the top of our three story house, we saw a lot of the bomb bursts and fires from Birmingham. I cannot say that we saw the Coventry raid, which was one of the worst of the war, but I know that Uncle Frank had to go with the fire engines, probably the next morning. My own worst experience of the aftermath of an air raid was not in Burton but whilst I was staying with Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill in Bakewell. At that time he had a job (unusual for Bill but there was a war on) collecting churns of milk from the farms and delivering it to a large dairy in Sheffield. I used to go with him on several occasions and, one time; it was very soon after the major air raid on Sheffield. I remember that the rubble had not been cleared and Uncle Bill had to find his way to the diary-I had never seen anything like it before. Normal traffic, of course was not allowed anywhere near the centre but getting the milk through was a priority. Apart from that, all the other air raid damage I saw during the war, was after it had been tidied up, dangerous walls demolished, rubble piled up on the site and, in many cases temporary boarding put up to prevent people injuring themselves.

The other big effect on people was food rationing which was introduced fairly early on and, at times, was very serious, although it seemed to hit some families far worse than others. Unfortunately rationing took no account of appetite and so, in some ways we were rather lucky. Although we ate well we were not big eaters, like some members of the Trigg family. Moreover mother was a very good plain cook and managed to make a little food go a long way, together with a lot of pickling, salting down, chutney making etc. Being sweet manufactures we did have one advantage in that sugar was never a problem, we bought it by the hundredweight when the ration was probably something like two ounces per person per week!

However the rest of our food was the basic ration, and, like everyone else we had to manage. There were, of course, the odd little bonuses that were open to many people. For example rabbits were off ration provided one knew someone in the country, I don’t think flour was rationed and one could always get suet, bones and offal from the butchers. The only trouble was that anything that was not on ration was in short supply and queues were the thing of the day. Even sweets were on points (another name for rationing) and we in the shop had to serve customers only against their points, but items like Cadbury’s Chocolates, was supply rationed and when there was a supply in, news got around and there would be queues, probably about thirty people or more and one would have to have a rule, letting each customer have one oz. or four oz. block only.

There was a further source of meat in that one family could buy and butcher one pig a year, I believe, but they were not allowed to sell any of the meat: they could eat it themselves, cure or smoke it, or give it away only. Luckily Father used to go round a lot of the villages and would occasionally come home with a bit of pork or ham. The other food that was off ration was fish, when it was available and vegetables. Luckily, in those days most people had some vegetables in the garden and we were all asked to ‘dig for victory’ which meant growing more vegetables and less flowers. Needless to say, no fruits were imported so bananas and such like were never seen. Very small children born just before or during the war did not know what a banana was.

When one left school there were only one or two possibilities. The vast majority of boys, leaving at say fifteen or sixteen had to find some employment and all labour was controlled (I am not sure whether it was possible to take any job for a year or so) but certainly on reaching the age of seventeen, unless one was in a reserved occupation such as farming, mining, war equipment, factories etc, one was automatically sent into one of the forces, National Service. There was a certain amount of latitude as to which service one could opt for but, in all cases it was not long before one was on some training course prior to being posted to an active unit.

I had shown interest in becoming a Civil or Municipal Engineer and, in my last year at school, Father had arranged for me to have an interview with the Borough Engineer of Burton, a Mr Moncur. He was very helpful but pointed out that on leaving school I would only have about a year or less before being ‘called u’ and he suggested that, whatever happened it would be an advantage to get a University Degree first. In those days going to University was, in the main, restricted to the well off or very clever. No way could my parents have afforded to send me to University without scholarship funding.

However, if one could get a scholarship or bursary to go to University, it was then necessary to select a course which the Government decreed was an approved course for deferment of National Service. At the Grammar school in my year, which was Science, I was offered a bursary to go to University to study engineering. Ideally, I would have liked to do Civil Engineering, which was the subject recommended by Mr Mocur but, when I registered, I was told that Civil Engineering students were to be given one year only before being called up into the Royal Engineers. Mechanical Engineering students were to be given two and a half years, which was sufficient to get a degree, I chose Mechanical.

Girls were not labour controlled but many did volunteer for one of the services and chose either ATS (Army), WAAF (Air Force) or WRNS (Navy) and a number chose to be Land Girls (Farming). There were many more opportunities for girls in a civilian role than for men. They could become nurses, secretaries, work in factories, releasing men for active service and for the first time it was not uncommon to see women doing jobs like bus conductors, van drivers, station porters etc. —jobs which, until then, had been entirely male prerogatives.

As far as the family was concerned, my cousin Ray was the first to enlist in the Army and very soon became an officer. He survived the war. Harry Warburton, a distant cousin, joined the RAF and became a member of the flying crew who were lost over the continent and were never heard of again. Sydney Purdey joined the army but remained a private or NCO throughout but at least he survived. Audrey, my cousin, joined the WRNS and, of course, survived. I cannot remember any other members of the family who joined the forces although Ray Elson was already in the Merchant Navy; Eric was virtually running to business, as Uncle Jim was then getting on a bit. I am not sure whether Leslie Elson may have been in one of the services.

My cousin, Phyllis, Audrey’s sister was then married to Ken Barnett who, with his brother Gordon, owned and ran a company of Electrical Engineers called Barnett and Soanes. When the war broke out they lived on Tower Road but then bought a large house (Dalebrook) on Newton Road with a huge garden. He employed a gardener or two and planted the whole with vegetables etc. Ken was a very superior character and treated everyone else with a certain amount of indifference-even Phyllis. They were very wealthy, I think the Barnetts were millionaires, even in those days, but I remember going up to Dalebrook and seeing Phyllis, dressed in an old sacking apron peeling onions for pickling. I felt so sorry for her-she seemed almost at the end of her tether. As well as working like this at home Phyllis was also very active in the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) and I know that they used to work long hours doing all manner of voluntary work to help the war effort.

Little did we know then what the future would bring for Phyllis. She was a lovely person, very homely, with a Burton accent and completely unsophisticated. She had two boys, Ian born just before the war and Peter a few years later. She was ill with Ian but very ill after Peter was born. I think Aunt Margaret, her mother, brought up the boys as much as Phyllis. Some time after this she became extremely ill with what was then called premature aging but what would now be called Alzheimer’s disease. This, of course, after the war and she eventually died in 1975.

Part two can be found at bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a6207194

Part three can be found at bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a6207356

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