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Typed by a UCN Community Volunteer, taken from “Semilong at War” (Workers’ Educational Association Project).

Then the ‘Yanks’ came. They asked for half-a-crown’s worth of chips. My dad said “You can have three pennorth, the same as everybody else”, but the lads home from Dunkirk had theirs for nothing. Mum and Dad opened up and cooked all they had for the old devils. Some dossed down in the spare rooms in the shop. They couldn’t go a step further.

The ATS were stationed on the racecourse. My folks filled a suitcase for them to take in to eat. They pretended to be returning from leave. The policemen bought chips on the way to duty, and hid them in their helmets …

Fish and chips were not rationed as such, but, relying on the fat that was used, and the poor fishermen in the North Sea, queues were inevitable. The hours worked were limited, hence the fire watching. Battered bits for the kids were free and popular. The clearing-up bits were given to neighbours for their hens, but I can’t remember getting any eggs. Tripe, chitterlings, pigs pudding and jellied eels, followed by broken biscuits, were treats, as were the odd rabbit or two (not out tame one), and skins were sold to the rag and bone man when he called.

Isn’t it strange that everyone I knew drank half pints then, but always asked for two extra in case ‘towel went up’ — an expression still used, but prices have changed. After a cricket match, anyone who had scored fifty runs or taken five wickets was expected to buy a round of drinks, i.e. eleven players, umpire and scorer, a total of thirteen half pints at a cost 3/3d.

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