大象传媒

This story by Gerald Sawyer

I was 7 years old when World War two began. Adolf Hitler was ruler of Germany. He wanted to conquer the World. When he attacked the country of Checkoslovakia, the British and other governments in Europe declared war on Germany.

This was at the beginning of September. The first thing to happen was that the schools at Barrow Hill was closed. We did not have to go to school until mid-October. Part of the school was fitted out as a First Aid Post, a kind of miniature Hospital. This caused a lot of work for Mrs Taylor, Mrs Wibberley鈥檚 great grandmother.

At the end of September, the teachers came round the village to ask if anyone had a spare room in which they could hold school lessons. We went to Thompsons on Monday morning, Owens on Tuesday morning and on Wednesday Afternoon went into Rollets Hair dressing Salon. On Friday mornings we went up into the attic of Fern鈥檚 house. We went up the stairs, through the back bedroom, up another flight of stairs to a big room with a little window, where some school chairs were kept. Behind a curtain lived several talking dolls. Mr Fern was a ventriloquist and a Punch and Judy man in his spare time. Marjorie Fern sometimes used to bring out the dolls to join the class. They never made any noise. This lasted until the following Easter, when some of the school buildings were opened up again and we went alternate weeks, first mornings then afternoons. Eventually, more of the premises were given back and we returned to normal lessons.

Another thing was the Blackout. The street lamps were cut off. Everybody had to put black paper, black cloth or wooden shutters tight up to the windows at night - time, so that not even the tiniest chink of light shone out. When you went out of or came into the house, someone had to switch off the lights. If you had a torch, it had to have a piece of black paper in it with a hole no bigger than a 5 pence coin. (Story). Everywhere was black. There were people whose job it was to make sure that there
was no light coming from any buildings. They were called Air Raid Wardens. You will have seen the greengrocer on Dad鈥檚 Army with his Tin Hat. The Black out lasted until a few weeks before the end of the War. Wardens were also responsible for making sure that everyone had a Gas Mask. It was believed that the Germans would drop bombs filled with poisonous gas on towns and villages. If there were to be a Gas warning, then the Wardens would come round with a rattle, which made a clacking sound. When the air was free from gas they would come round and ring a bell.
Everyone had to carry his or her gas mask around with them. It fitted into a strong cardboard box, which had a string through the base and the lid, so that you could carry it on your shoulder. If you did not take yours to school, you could get the cane.

As well as Air Raid Wardens there were FireWatchers. My dad was chief firewatcher for about 30 houses. He used to make out a rota each week for those on duty. It was my job to take out to those on duty a slip of paper to tell people when they were on duty. When the Air raid sirens went, he had to go out and check that those on duty were out. Their job was to look out for any bombs, which may be dropped which could start a fire. These were called incendiary bombs. Outside our house, hung on the wall was a stirrup pump. This was like a big bike pump with a hosepipe coming out of the top and apiece of metal with a flat bit at the bottom. To use the pump you put the main piece in a bucket of water, put your foot on the metal piece and pumped like mad. If you were lucky, water came out of the hosepipe and douted the firebomb. Sometimes they used to practise with a bundle of rags soaked in paraffin.
Once I remember, they couldn鈥檛 get the thing to light so after using up half a box of matches, they put it in a bucket and poured more paraffin on it. They got it to light, but they couldn鈥檛 get the stirrup pump to work. By the time they managed it the Bomb had burnt out. (Air Raids)

The Home Guard was very many like Dads Army. They guarded important buildings in case parachutist came, or boatloads of soldiers invaded from the sea.

Because a lot of food, even in those days came from overseas, basic foods were put on ration. I can鈥檛 remember exactly what we had but mostly it was half a pound of: Sugar fats, meat, cheese, bacon, two eggs, two ounces of leaf tea (no bags then) and one ounce of sweets. Once a month you had a treat. This was either a tin of spam, fruit, dried egg, dried milk, a jar of jam or dried fruit. You were allowed four pints of milk per person per week, but as milk came from local farms, there was always a bit extra. Lots of people kept fowls. They could get meal feed instead of eggs. Potato and vegetable peelings were boiled in a pan, then the meal added. We kept fowls, which provided eggs and extra meat, particularly at Christmas. Bread was not rationed until after the War ended. Railway men and sailors got extra cheese rations to make up their Snap (sandwich meals). We had apples from August to December and plums if we were lucky enough to live near a farm. One year we had some Cherries whilst on holiday. We queued an hour to get them. In the War you queued for everything. There was no ice cream from October 1940 until Good Friday 1945. Most people grew vegetables. When we went to the Cinema we took carrots to eat.

There was no television in those days. It was about 1950 before the first television programmes were available here. Newspapers were 4 pages. The Derbyshire Times 8. WE went to the Cinema most weeks. They had Shows for Adults and children in the evenings Monday to Saturday. Closed on Sunday, with children鈥檚 special programmes on Saturday morning or afternoon. They showed adverts before the performance and had newsreels in between the main pictures. There were two cinemas in Staveley, the Regal, now the Bingo and the Empire opposite where the roundabout to Morrisons is. There was the Oxford in New Whittington, the Lyceum in Whittington Moor and in Chesterfield Town Centre there was the Odeon (Winding wheel), the Corporation (Pomegranate), the Victoria (Victoria Centre). And the Regal in Cavendish Street, which had a big theatre organ which came up out of the floor, when it was played between the films.
Few people went away for holidays. You could not go to the East Coast; places like Skegness, cleethorpes, Bridlington and Scarborough were out of bounds. Blackpool was about the only place open to the public. We had Holidays at Home weeks in the summer. The fair ground came at Staveley feast week. And we had donkeys in the park in Chesterfield.

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