大象传媒

My maiden name was Jessie Eades, daughter of Alfred and Julia Eades. I lived with my parents, four brothers and five sisters in a large terraced house in Handsworth, Birmingham. We were there throughout W.W.2; my brothers were not in the services because they were engaged in vital war work; they were toolmakers in an aeroplane factory. I was born in Birmingham, which suffered heavy bombing. We were educated at a local Secondary Modern School; my sisters and I were trained for office work. Our father worked as a mould maker for the foundry industry. Our mother worked hard cooking, coping with all the laundry and keeping house for our large family. We had gas lighting in our house until electricity was available.

The Air Raid Shelter.

We had an air raid shelter supplied to us by the War Department. Our father had to prepare for the shelter by digging, levelling the ground, and then he assembled the structure, a corrugated metal mushroom shape. When the air raid sirens sounded we spent many evenings in there, it was cold and damp, but there were benches to sit on, we tried to make it as comfortable as possible. Torches lighted our shelter and lamps and we took blankets and hot-water bottles to keep us warm as we passed the time away.

Bombing raids over Birmingham.

Often the German bombers would come; the searchlights illuminated the planes and then the anti-aircraft guns fired, hoping to destroy them. All this was quite a sight, especially if there was a full moon

One night I remember vividly racing to the shelter and feeling really frightened, I shouted, 鈥淚 shall be killed!鈥� The bombs were dropping all around our area; luckily I made it into the shelter. That experience lives with me to this day.

A land mine was dropped a short distance away, it was attached to a parachute. Our neighbours were evacuated until the Bomb Disposal Unit had made it safe. Shortly after that an incendiary bomb was dropped in the road where we lived, the Bomb Disposal people were very quick dealing with that.

We spent so many nights in our shelter, often we were in there all night after the sirens had sounded, coming out after the 鈥楢ll Clear鈥� in time to go into the house to wash and dress ready for the working day. During this time one of my brothers was a Dispatch Rider, responsible for delivering important messages and information. My other brothers were in the Home Guard manning light guns.

Rationing for food, clothing, coal, oil and petrol was rationed and there were restrictions on the use of private cars, this lasted for about five years. We were issued with ration books and coupons. The food rations were very basic, all the main food items were allocated by ounces per week per person; we did the best we could and managed to get by during those hard times, we just had to make the best of it.

The clothing was rationed from June 1941 on a points system; basically it allowed people to buy one complete new outfit a year. Make do and mend was the order of the day! Home dressmaking was used extensively for making, altering and repairing clothes. Adults cast off clothing was cut down to make things for children; blankets were dyed to make coats, nothing was wasted.

Silk stockings became scarce and the 鈥榥ew鈥� nylon stockings were available in America. Girls who had a G.I. (American) friend, sometimes received a pair of nylon stockings, at what cost? I don鈥檛 know! Girls tanned their legs with gravy browning, it worked!

Recreation.

We did have outside interests, we all listened to the wireless and had a battery operated model, with somewhat crackly reception! But the news broadcasts and some of the radio programmes such as 鈥業t Ma鈥� with Tommy Handly and 鈥楧ick Barton, Special Agent鈥� were popular. My brothers supported West Bromwich Albion Football Club, and enjoyed going to watch their team play when they were able. My sisters and I enjoyed the Saturday night dances at Farcroft Dance Hall. There was a cinema in our area called 鈥楾he Regal鈥�, when we could afford it we went to see films there. We were good at making our own amusements, but these things gave us regular relief in those austere times.

How we survived those hard and desperate times amazes me now. Perhaps my generation just accepted life and didn鈥檛 ask for the moon. They carried on with stoic determination. There was a sense of community and neighbourliness, everyone helped each other.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Rose Parish of the CSV Action Desk at 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Jessie Wright and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

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