大象传媒

This story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College

As the war progressed rationing begain to bite. My father acquired some chickens and two pigs and had a small holding where they were kept. The grain for the chickens was rationed so he was always looking around for food to feed them. The council installed pig bins on the lamp posts in the street and people were asked to put their waste in them. Sometimes in the late evening my father would take me with the sack to empty these pig bins and take it up to the small holding where we had a big boiler and cooked it. At Christmas time we were very popular because we had chickens and one of the pigs was due to provide many a Christmas dinner. We were all commandered to pluck the chickens. On one Christmas eve I was sent to the small holding early to boil up a tin bath full of hot water. Later on that evening my father arrived to kill the pig. After killing the pig it was scrubbed in the tin bath and put in the cart. We had a pony which we used to take it home. The next day it was cut into various joints and distributed to certain people in the village ie the local tobacconist and the policeman. The reason he was able to get a packet of woodbines, which were hard to come by and sometimes the local policeman would turn a blind eye on certain occasions. (The corn to feed the chickens was limited by ration so if a ship came into Avonmouth loaded with grain, my father would go aboard and fill his pockets and wellington boots to supplement the ration he was allowed. The docks policeman would turn a blind eye and let him cycle home without stopping him.)

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