大象传媒

I was 6 years old, the year war was declared in 1939 and the memories I have are ones of anxiety, annoyance and community spirit. From the terrifying noise of bombs approaching and exploding, to frantically fiddling to get the horrid gas mask on to the community spirit of giving and sharing.

I lived in Whinney Banks during the war and, like all families, we had an air raid shelter of which ours was housed at the bottom of our garden. Whinney Banks School鈥檚 air raid shelter was placed at the bottom of our school field. Even though the air raid shelters were dark and smelt foisty, I always felt safer inside of them. I remember one time our family slept a whole week in our air raid shelter, and during that week, Middlesbrough Train Station was bombed. Before going into the shelter my mam would make up our beds, which dad made out of planks of wood. Every night of that week the sirens went off and on went our gas mask, which was really annoying as they steamed up at the front. I remember I would scream when the sirens were sounded, I was so petrified, I was the only one who would lose control, my mother would be calm, my sister quiet and I think my brother, who was younger than me, found it all very exciting.

My father was a Sargent in the Home Guard and used to go to RAF Thornaby to teach drill to the recruits. He also worked at Dorman Long, Brittanie Works in the Wire Mills. During the war my mam was a platelayer on the railway.

I remember the department store, Dixons and Bensons being hit, which is now British Home Stores. I鈥檒l never forget the distinctive sound of a bomb approaching - whistle, silence and bang and then another explosion from me as I screamed in terror. I also remember the barrage balloons that were filled with gas, these prevented the enemy air craft from flying low and would explode if hit. They were dotted all over the place.

What I really looked forward to when we emerged from our air raid shelter was to play our whip and top game, which was a wooden top and a whip - you鈥檇 wrap the whip around the top and pull and the top would spin around. We used to colour the top with chalk and made pretty patterns and had competitions of whose top looked the best when spun.

One positive thing that emerged from the war was the strengthened community spirit. I remember how the neighbours would rally together when there was a wedding in the street. Clothing coupons from the ration books would be clubbed together to buy the bride鈥檚 wedding dress and we鈥檇 all contribute a food coupon to pay towards the buffet. Living off the ration books was a struggle, but we got by. I remember going to the shops for mam and taking the ration book, we were allowed 2 ozs of butter, 2 ozs of lard, a quarter of bacon and 4 oz of sugar a week. The grown ups ration book was fawn and the children鈥檚 was green. From her clothing coupons, my mam made pinafores. She had a Pinny Club, which neighbours would pay a shilling a week towards a pinny. The lady across the road made fadgies out of the food coupons and our next door neighbour made toffee apples and toffee dabs which she sold at a half-penny each. We bought most of our vegetables from the allotments and my mam used to give me a shilling a week to buy a huge bouquet of flowers there.

Boxes of apples were sent to the school and were handed out. We also used to get a jar of malt. We used to have powdered egg as eggs were scarce and we had to use powdered milk, although at school we all had a small bottle of fresh milk which we drank at playtime.

When I joined the Women鈥檚 Royal Air Force in 1951, I recall that food was still rationed and my mam looked forward to me returning home with extra food coupons.

I also recall our black Regency stove that we had at home, which we had to black lead every week. It was a coal fire with an oven at either side. We also had a tin bath which we had to put in front of the fire and each take turn to have a bath. We all used the same water with mam just topping it up with hot water from the kettle. At night time we used to make clip mats and hookey mats. The clips were pieces of sacking which a pattern had been drawn on and a hookey mat was made the same way but with old lyle stockings dyed different colours and cut from the top into one long piece and hooked into the sacking. The radio was one of our favourites, especially listening to Dick Barton Special Agent and on Sundays, Education Archie and Top of the Form.

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