大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Dunstable At War Team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Edward Street in Dunstable was well served by small shops. There were three general stores, two bakers, two green grocers and two butchers. Each family had to register with a general store for their basic rations and with a butcher for their meat.

The meat ration always worried my mother as she tried to plan meals for the week. Unlike other rationed basic commodities, meat was rationed by cost so that in any week each person was allowed, say, 15d worth of meat which could be taken as a small weight of a high cost cut or a larger amount of cheaper cuts. Offal was not rationed and the butcher tried to share it fairly among his customers. Apart from the basic rations of butter; sugar; cheese; margarine etc., all of which were price controlled with changes in price and quantity announced nationally. Other commodities such as tinned foods were given a points value and it was possible to choose how to spend one鈥檚 allocation of points in each period of rationing.

We always welcomed my father home for weekends as well as my sister, once she had joined the A.T.S. but the services did not issue rations with weekend passes although they did for longer periods of leave. Once she completed her basic training my sister became a cook and could usually scrounge something to help us out when she came home. Whenever my father knew he could get home well in advance, he usually managed to get some sort of ration but this was all unofficial.

Our neighbour decided to keep some hens as the food supply became more difficult. By registering with him to supply us with eggs, he could exchange our egg coupons for chicken meal at Gibbard鈥檚 Corn Chandlery in High Street North, near the crossroads. We also saved scraps such as the outer cabbage leaves and peelings for him to prepare as chicken food with the meal. One difficulty was that the hens did not lay all the year round and it was necessary to pickle eggs, when plentiful, in a solution of 鈥淲ater Glass鈥� contained in large jars or covered buckets which were kept in the coal-cellar where it was cooler. The pickled eggs were suitable for cooking in cakes etc. but were not ideal for frying or boiling. Dried egg powder was also available and provided a source of 鈥渞ubbery鈥� scrambled egg.

I believe that as people found ways to circumvent the regulations, a 鈥渂lack market鈥� developed. Our neighbour managed to get meat from a butcher in exchange for surplus eggs and my mother exchanged some of my 鈥渟weet鈥� coupons for 鈥渟ugar鈥� coupons from another neighbour and thereby was able to build up a stock for jam making when fruit was plentiful.

In season, fruit and vegetables were also bottled in 鈥淜ilner鈥� jars, the result was not as good as the frozen food now available but we were glad to have them. Some of my mother鈥檚 jam was exchanged for meat from the first neighbour. By helping each other in this way the fairly close-knit community survived. Mr.K usually had some surplus milk, as larger families did not always take their full ration so an extra pint could often be bought.

On the radio, two characters, Grandma Buggins and her daughter made regular broadcasts with ideas of how to make the weekly rations go further. They suggested recipes for pies and puddings that incorporated vegetables such as swede, parsnip or turnip

The Congregational Church in Edward Street was a focus of activities and had a 鈥淭ea Committee鈥� of which my mother was a member. The ladies pooled resources to hold Church Socials and Teas at which the refreshments were sandwiches and homemade cakes. To obtain enough 鈥渂utter鈥� for the sandwiches, a concoction was made of one part butter, mixed with three parts margarine extended by using an equal amount of mash made from dried potato powder. No doubt, one of Grandma Buggins鈥� ideas. The filling was usually jam, meat paste or tomatoes if in season.

Other activities used to help produce more food were the 鈥淒ig for Victory鈥� campaign in which householders were encouraged to grow as many vegetables as possible, keep hens or rabbits and in some cases, pigs. Galvanized iron dustbins were to be found in every street and people were encouraged to put any waste food in them. Individuals came round with their horses and carts on a regular basis to empty the bins and boil up the mixture to make pigswill. One such person was 鈥淒addy鈥� C who kept his pigs off Meadway on ground adjacent to the Corporation rubbish tip that was, at that time, in a quarry off of Whipsnade Road.

One lunchtime when I came home from school, my mother asked me to go with our neighbour to Gadd鈥檚 greengrocery shop opposite Woolworth鈥檚. The 鈥済rapevine鈥� had told her that there would be oranges available that afternoon. When we arrived the queue was all the way round the inside of the shop and way past the next shop, somehow I became parted from the neighbour and when I was served with just two oranges, she was still queuing outside the shop in front of the window. However most people got their oranges that day. It was surprising how news of such things was rapidly passed round the town by word of mouth.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.