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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Joan Mary Scott and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

I worked at Barugh Green Co-op Grocery Shop during and after the war.

So of course it was rationing. Our Manager gave me the job of seeing to all the coupon counting etc. These had to be put in separate packets and taken down to the Food Office, which was in Church Street at Darton. We had one day for weighing up the rations of butter, margarine and lard, sometimes 2 ounces of butter, 4 ounces of margarine and sometimes 2 ounces of lard per person. The worst coupons to count were the Bread Coupons. This was not rationed at first like other foods. I remember one week the lard came in a container and it was more like liquid, the customers had to bring basins to collect it in.

On Tuesday we had the delivery of the goods from the Grocery Warehouse in Barnsley and then on Wednesday morning we had a queue when we arrived for work, people waiting to see what other things they could buy. We had to make our own bags to put things like sugar, rice, oatmeal, etc. because of the shortage of paper bags. People brought pillowcases or cotton bags for their flour, there was no pre-packed flour at all at that time. One time we got soap powder in a sack and had to weigh all that up. It was an awful job, made your eyes smart and made you sneeze and cough, but it had to be done.

I wanted to join the forces like my cousins but was not allowed because working in food stores was considered work of national importance. We had one little old lady who was a real character and when the ration was just one egg for the week she would say ‘one egg one bl---- vote again this week’. I did enjoy my job but at times we had a lot of nastiness to contend with, particularly the manager who tried to be a
Very fair man but the customers didn’t think so.

I remember the night that Sheffield was badly bombed. There were lots of incendiary bombs dropped in our area. I think maybe they saw the river shining and dropped the bombs. They did drop one large one at the chemical work at Barugh. Fortunately it didn’t do too much damage. They would know where the chemical works was, because it was built by the Germans before the First World War. My mother told me some of them lodged with people in the village when it was being built.

One memory is of watching the soldiers marching through our village to Cawthorne Park where they were to be stationed in tents, no proper huts at first these were built later. I think the first soldiers were the DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY after that the Irish Fusiliers, Kings Royal Rifles and then the Canadians and the POLES afterwards. My husband came to Cawthorne camp when he had been released from the prisoner of war camp in GERMANY. We met at the dance in the Village Hall. They did Lance dances later in the camp. Which my friends and I and the girls from Cawthorne went to. We had to sign in at the Guardroom when we went in and the same when we came out when the dance had finished. Then quite often to walk home or all share in the cost of Mr Marley’s taxi which cost us about 9 old pence each.

I say that people were more healthy in the war years than people are today. It was quite surprising what our mums could manage to do with the small rations. One of the customers gave me a recipe for a wartime fruitcake and I use that recipe today and it is good. The tins of dried egg which was from America cost two and sixpence in the old money which was quite a lot they were equal to a dozen eggs and they made lovely omelettes.

Our neighbour was in the ARP and after we had been issued with gas masks there had to be a green piece added to the bottom. Mr Dodd had the job of fixing these on and I went round with him to list everyone’s names. I was only 16 so I wasn’t old enough to join the ARP but I did receive a letter of thanks for my help (why didn’t I keep it) to thank me for my help and to say they would be pleased to have me when I was old enough to join. The green part was to combat gas if we were ever attacked by gas. I didn’t realise at the time the seriousness of it but I can thinking back now.

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