大象传媒

War years Remembered
Part 2

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Domestic etc.

With the coast out of bounds, even if it could be reached, holidays by the sea ceased. The highlight of our summer holidays was a 2 week visit to Sherburn-in Elmet to stay at Auntie Gertie鈥檚 (Father鈥檚 Sister) and spend the days on our Uncle Ozzie鈥檚 (Father鈥檚 Brother) and Auntie Nel鈥檚 farm, some 200 yards up the road. On these holidays we had eggs, not egg powder, here we had (I guess) cream, and here we had bacon. I do not really remember the cream; it was unimportant but the smell of bacon frying---YES. Here I was allowed to lead the horses, tractors were few and far between. Here I stood with a Shire鈥檚 front hoof on my sandled foot because I had walked too close while leading. I stood while the nearby stooks (stowks) were loaded, and then suffered the additional pressure as the horse pushed off. I dare not say anything or I might not have been allowed to continue leading those Shires. Luckily the ground was soft, and my foot was pushed into the soft soil with no noticeable damage. I most certainly did not limp while in sight of any of the 鈥楪rown ups鈥�.
The oldest of those gentle giant shires was called Nigger and our firm favourite. He had been retired by the time of our last visit, and we visited his retirement paddock daily to ensure he was still there and OK. It was a miserable holiday if the weather did not allow 鈥榗arting鈥�. That is the task of bringing in the harvest to be stacked to await the arrival of the Threshing Machine, no Combine harvesters in those days. 鈥� Are you carting today鈥� was always our first words to our Uncle on arrival at the farm every morning.

It was during one of these visits that we heard an unusual noise. That part of Yorkshire was also dotted with airfields and the news soon spread down the village that an aircraft had crashed on the outskirts. By the time we had walked to the area, the rescue teams with heavy lifting gear were on the scene鈥� The aircraft was a Stirling, the biggest of the RAF鈥檚 four engine bombers, although not the heaviest bomb load carrier. The majority of the fuselage was upside down in a field, and it was rumoured that several crewmembers were still inside and injured. Even the local pressman was kept as far away as the rest of the public, so he knew as much as we did. We stood and waited for an hour or so, and became (I understand) rather upset by what we considered to be very slow progress by the rescue teams. Eventually we were persuaded to leave. It seems likely that those crewmembers were in fact dead, though unofficially we were told that they were extracted alive, but died later.

Our holidays on the farm ceased before the end of the war, as Uncle Ozzie who had been gassed in the trenches during the 14-18 war, was too ill to keep the farm going. Not strictly a memory, but indicative of the atmosphere one 鈥榝elt鈥� around in those days. Uncle Ozzie had immigrated to New Zealand to farm before the 14-18 war; he gave up all and returned to serve in the Army at the outbreak of war. To serve one鈥檚 country was considered the honourable thing to do, particularly early in the 1st World War. This attitude was still obvious from the numbers who immediately signed up at the beginning of the 2nd World War, despite the fact that memories of the 14-18 slaughter were still quite raw. There was intense National pride, which extended to shopping habits. I remember that pre war; my Grandparents would not purchase any Foreign made items, except Empire made, unless absolutely necessary.

Thinking of shopping leads of course to thoughts of rationing. I have a faint memory of my Grandmother pointing to a shelf on which stood a few tins and bottles of food, and saying 鈥� We shall be glad of these鈥�. At the time I thought how few there were, and how quickly they would be used. Among the tins were two of Burmese curry powder, brought back by my Mother and Father on their return from Burma late in 鈥�38, or early 鈥�39. It was a firm favourite, and disguised many a meal in the early war years, but did not last the war out.

Friday was Fish Day, that is the only day the Fishmonger was open and then only for an hour or two before he sold out. My Aunt used to leave work early at lunch time to queue for up to an hour to get a tiny bit of fish, and some scraps for the cat and two dogs. What those dogs lived on I just do not know, though I have a faint recollection of bullet hard biscuits, too hard for me to bite through, and I had quite a liking for pre war dog biscuits, particularly the charcoal variety! I used to raid the dog鈥檚 biscuit bin at my Grandparents quite regularly!

Early in the war there must have been some sweets available on ration, later I do not remember having any sweets. On Friday evening there would be a ring of the front door bell. A muttered conversation and profuse 鈥榯hankyous鈥� would indicate that Mrs Holmes had called. Mrs Holmes owned a sweets and tobacconist shop in Scotgate, and on Friday evening she would scrape together any remnants of sweets still left, and deliver a small paper bag of them on her way home. Sometimes she even managed a packet of 10 cigarettes for my Mother. I seem to remember that her shop was never open on a Saturday, nothing to sell!

In common with most towns, Stamford was protected against invasion! This meant that every road into town had massive concrete cubes 12ft x 12ft x 6ft high, or bigger, set into the ground each side of the road with holes set into the road between them. These holes had wood or? metal covers, which could be removed to allow, metal girders to be set upright in them to form a barrier. These were the tank barriers. Even at my age, it did seem strange that often these tank barriers backed on to someone鈥檚 front garden, and could therefore be easily circumvented! However I suppose some of them would have caused some delays. Work on the tank barriers, Air Raid Shelters, and Pillboxes, inevitably attracted schoolboy interest giving us new things to climb on to, over, and into etc. I remember those tank barriers being demolished after the war, and they took weeks of drilling by a gang to remove even one of them.

Radio was an absolute lifeline. A very high percentage of radio sets were battery operated, requiring a 2 volt LT (Low Tension) rechargeable lead/acid accumulator, plus a 120 volt HT (High Tension), or was it 90 volt? and sometimes a 9-volt bias battery as well. The 2-volt batteries had to be charged at least every week. The task of charging these batteries was dealt with by 'Radio Shops', and a large area of Stamford was covered by a Mr Gentle. He collected and delivered on his bicycle which was equipped with racks front and back into which he could slot perhaps 40 of the 2-volt accumulators. Very few people were able to charge their own. We had a Mains set, which I still have in working condition.

The 9 o'clock news on the Home Service of the 大象传媒 was SACRED. Many, or probably all newspapers, published wallmaps of the most active areas of the war. There was always a copy of the latest map as published by the Daily Telegraph on our Dining Room wall, and any activity reported on the News was carefully followed on it. I also recall hearing Workers Playtime, presumably during School Holidays, as I feel sure it was a Lunchtime programme. The radio program that was nearly as important as the News in our home was ITMA (It鈥檚 That Man Again) with Tommy Hanley, and some of its catch phrases still ring in my head.

Other news came from the Cinema newsreels. There were two cinemas in Stamford, the Central which was the newest, and the old Picturedrome which was (as were many others around the Country) affectionately known as the 'Fleapit'. I do not recall going to 'The Flicks' often, but when I did I remember that the Newsreel was at least as important as the main film. 'Flicks' of course, because the older projectors and films produced a flickering image on the screen. With no TV, visual news with moving pictures was only available at the cinema. It was there that I saw the Alamein attack, and was immensely moved by the sight and sound of a Piper apparently leading the infantry forward after the guns had fired a massive barrage. I can still remember waiting in dread to hear the sound of the pipes die if the piper was hit. They did not, at least not on the Newsreel. The names on the news that stand out most clearly from the early part of the war are, I guess, Graf Spee, Bismark, Dunkirk, Alamein, HMS Hood, later HMS Ark Royal, Malta, Singapore, Tobruk, and of course Churchill; when he broadcast the Nation stopped and listened.
PS Many years after, I had an ex Sailor working for me, who had been aboard HMS Ark Royal when she was sunk. He was firmly of the opinion that she could have been saved if the below decks compartment sea tight doors had all been properly closed, as they should have been. Also in my Division was one of the Fleet Air Arm Swordfish Pilots who took part in the attack on the Graf Spee? He never said much about his experiences.

'Greenflies', that is what we called them. 'Greenflies', the girls of Camden High School who were evacuated to Stamford and billeted all over town, they wore green uniforms. At first they shared our school, each school having use of the classrooms for half a day, and very strictly segregated. What happened after that short period of half-day classroom sharing I can't remember. We had two of the girls living with us, Audrey and ?Susan? Daphne? I'm not sure. Audrey the shorter plumpish kind and genuine one, the other tall good looking and reserved. My Aunt Jane kept in touch with Audrey for years after they left the town.

The severity of the bombing of London and other towns and cities must have sunk home, but until the V weapon campaign, my only memory is of someone reporting that the glow in the sky from the London fires had been seen from high ground 20 miles South of Stamford, some 80 miles from London. The loss of life in the raids was of course heavy, the radio news more usually reporting that " Casualties were 'light' or 'moderate'. Similar phrases were used when reporting military actions. Throughout the whole war, I have no recollection of hearing that someone at school had lost his Dad or older Brother, yet it must have happened many times. Perhaps I just blotted out such bad events.

Loo paper---sorry Lavatory or Toilet paper-- I don't think we used the term Loo, there was another term! I assume that toilet paper was difficult to obtain, and any that was obtained was coarse and hard. There were two toilets at home, one in the Bathroom, and one outside the house. The outside toilet always had cut up newspaper in it, as did the Bathroom toilet on many occasions.
PS. Well into the 60's and 70's Americans used to bring there own toilet paper to UK when visiting, because they were under the impression that we only had coarse hard toilet paper!

Washing powder soaps, washing up liquid. The latter was unheard of as far as I can remember; washing up was done in a bowl with 'suds' created by swishing a wire cage with a wire handle around in the water. This wire cage contained the remnants of bars of soap that had become too small to use for any other purpose. Clothes washing was done by hand with a wash board and I believe mainly with a bar of hard soap. Bathroom soaps soon became very basic, but they still got one clean! There was a 'Boiler' in the house, no not a central heating boiler, or a back boiler for the kitchen fire to provide hot water, though we did have the latter. The washing boiler was a large (copper I believe) container housed in a brick support with its own fireplace below. Boiling the washing with soda was a very effective method of getting the clothes clean. It was not used during the war, in fact I cannot remember ever seeing it used - not enough coal.

At some stage towards the end of the war, I got my first (full size) bicycle. Try though I have I cannot remember a bicycle before that one, however I must have had something, as I could ride. It was a 'utility model', no chrome (or stainless steel) all black paint, and was much too big for me at first but it had to last, and it did, all through my school days and long after the end of the war. Thick wooden blocks on the pedals allowed me to just reach them. Eventually, to make it look more 'sporty' the handle bars which were sort of 'sit up and beg', were turned over to form semi drop (racing) handlebars.

Bees! At an early stage in the war, one of our School Masters, Captain Pollard (Walter to his friends who were many -- Sir to us pupils) asked if he could keep bees in the paddock behind our house. My Father became interested, and soon we kept bees also. Dad went away to war and so I became the beekeeper. Beekeepers were popular; honey was used not only instead of jam and marmalade, but also as a sugar replacement with some strange tasting cakes, boiled fruits etc. The prices of all foodstuff was strictly controlled, honey was 2/6d a pound (12.5p) and I could sell all I could produce! However beekeepers were allowed an extra sugar ration for winter feeding of the bees, and we valued some of that extra sugar more than the honey, and used it mainly for jam making. In consequence I had to feed some honey back to the bees in the winter. After the war price controls were lifted, and one year I was offered 拢1 per pound for my honey; unfortunately I had sold it all!

Jam - fruit picking. Autumn time found us, at weekends or School holidays, cycling out to pick blackberries for bottling (Kilner jars) and jam making. Despite the fact that blackberry and apple jam was about the only jam we seemed to ever have on the table, it is still probably my favourite jam. Later in the war we also went Rosehip picking, these were sold via Chemists to the Ministry of ? Food? for making into Rosehip syrup, which the Government encouraged the population to take regularly, as it is high in some vitamins. Bottling was the only way to keep some fruits, we had not heard of freezers, and did not even have a fridge.

Daytime air raid warnings were not uncommon in the first year or so of the war, after that they were hardly ever heard as the Germans switched to night bombing. It must therefore have been early in the war that the siren went on my way home from school. I rushed home, got out my ancient airgun and a fist full of pellets, and went out into the garden to 'getem'. I do not recall whether I was relieved or not when the all clear sounded. I do however recall feeling somewhat embarrassed by my action when I thought about it afterwards!

Car driving practice. My Father bought a Hillman 10 on his return from Burma; it was not used for long. Soon petrol rationing became so severe that petrol was only available for essential purposes, and the Hillman was laid up wheels off the ground on blocks in the garage and covered in thick dustsheets. My Brother and I used to treat ourselves to a drive by struggling under the sheets and sitting in the near dark inside the car, driving to wherever our imaginations took us.

My Grandparents on my Mother鈥檚 side had a 1937/8 Rover 12 at the beginning of the war. My Grandfather died before war was declared, and my Grandmother in 1943. The car was left to their son, my Uncle Phil (of Revolver fame!). The car was also laid up early in the war, until my Mother鈥檚 illness allowed a special petrol ration to take her for treatment and specialist appointments. The Rover was put back on the road, and driven by my Aunt Jane, my Mother鈥檚 Sister. My Uncle used the car after the war for business purposes until at least the early 鈥�50s. Replacement vehicles were just not available, as after the war every vehicle the British motor industry could build could be exported --- until the industry became complacent and foreign manufacturers produced much more attractive, and reliable models!

To be continued.

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