大象传媒

We used to go to Ritz Cinema, the one that got bombed out. It was tuppence (2d) to go. Mr Whitfield was the manager and he only had one arm, but when war was declared he was interred because he was a German. When it was your birthday you had to tell them and you got a ticket to get into tuppenny-rush free the next week. At the interval he used to be on the stage and he鈥檇 get us all singing all the old songs like Tipparery and that. We used to run errands for neighbours to get the tuppence. We used to knock on the door 鈥淒o you want any errands running?鈥� and they used to give us a penny for running errands. We used to take back the empty jam jars and sugar used to come in blue bags, my mother used to look after them, and each week she used to give us them and we took them to the sweet shop and he gave us a bag of sweets for the sugar bags. He used to use them again, you never threw them away, because he got his sugar in big sacks and he used to fill the bags. We used to watch him.

My father was an air raid warden. I remember Ritz Cinema on the corner getting a direct hit, it was a landmine. The family were in the shelter the middle of the street. If they鈥檇 stayed in their own home in Stibble Street they鈥檇 have been alright but they all got killed. My father didn鈥檛 know but when he went to pull all the bodies out, he found his brother and his wife and daughter were all in there. He always went out on duty as soon as the air raid sirens went off. James MacKay Middleton was his name.

Before we had a shelter we used to all hide in a cupboard under the stairs. We used to go in railway yard shelter when they built that. It was just over the road. We all did that from Britain Street. We lived at 203. There was six houses up the stairs, because it was on a slope. That was where we got bombed out. My father came to the shelter and that said we won鈥檛 be able to stay there and said that all the horses had got killed. All I kept saying was 鈥淥h them poor horses鈥�.

When we got bombed out, they moved us to Pemberton Street in Witham, it was a great big house just at the entrance to Pemberton Street. We was only in there a few weeks and we got bombed out again. They moved us into Spyvee Street, the first terrace down there, and we got bombed out again. They put us in a new house on Preston Road, down by the drain, and we got bombed out again. From there we went to Brighton Street, next to Hewitsons were my father worked; he was they yard foreman. On a night he used to go and look after it, to see if it was alright, and then they had a big fire. So then we moved from next door to them and went in Wild(?) Street round the corner and I stayed there with my mam and dad until I got married and moved to Paull.

My dad always came to the shelter and told us that we鈥檇 been bombed out, what with him being a warden like. We did mange to salvage the odd bits and pieces each time, but it wasn鈥檛 much. I know my father smoked a pipe and he always managed to save his pipe-rack! It used to be on the wall with all his different pipes in it.

At Christmas time, it was always really special. We got tuppence (2d pre-decimal 鈥� about 1p) a week pocket money every week, on a Friday, off my father. We used to put pocket money on a Christmas Club every week, Father Cripps(?) on Hessle Road between Barnsley Street and Nonabell Street, to get something for Christmas; a doll or a selection box, something like that. When you hung you stocking up you got an apple, an orange, some nuts and some new coins in the bottom.

I was at school and we never had go when the sirens went off. Well, when I was 14 me and my friend went to see Bing Crosby, who was in White Christmas, at Langham on Hessle road 鈥� we queued an hour to get in and then the sirens went off. Me and my friend ran all the way home.

I did volunteer to be a messenger but I never got called out. You used to get three shillings a week. We used to have to go to Reckitts when the sirens went. We were in wild Street and Reckitts was just across the way in Dansom Lane. There used to be a room in there that was our headquarters. I never got called out so I didn鈥檛 go to get my pay as it didn鈥檛 seem right. You used to have to go to this house on Holderness Road, past Sculcoates Lane. My father said 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you go?鈥� but I wouldn鈥檛 go on principle because I never got called out, but I was there if they wanted me, in my navy beret and my jacket with 鈥楳essenger鈥� on it. Where you had to go was right opposite Feren鈥檚 House (birthplace of Sir Thomas Ferens). I did get a job when I was old enough and I worked at the Caf茅 on the corner near where Gough & Davies is. It used to have a big coffee machine in the window and you could stand outside and watch this coffee machine. We worked up in the canteen there and when the sirens went off once we were watching a Spitfire fighting the Germans over Queens Gardens through the window. We shouldn鈥檛 have been anywhere near the windows, we should have been downstairs in the shelters, but you could see them fighting, you could hear the bullets and we were so excited we just had to stay and watch. I think I was about 16 then.

Mam used to bake twice a week. She used to bake on a Saturday and bake on a Tuesday. You had to take it in a tin to a place on the Road, a bakers I think, to get it baked. She used to make us hotcakes as well. I don鈥檛 know if you had to pay for that or not. To tell you the truth, I never used to go.

When you had a wireless set you used to have to take the battery to get it charged. It was an accumulator, that鈥檚 what they called it. We used to take ours to Rocs on Holderness Road, that鈥檚 when we lived in Brtton Street. It was a tobacconists between Kent Street and, oh I forget the name of the next street but Prescott (John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister at time of interview) used to go down there because his mother had a shop there. When he came home from the Navy he used to serve in the shop. He used to go to the club next to the railway lines 鈥� it was Beaton Street! That was it, where his mother had the shop and he went to the club down there. Mr Rocs was just before you got to Beaton Street because that鈥檚 where I used to go for 陆 ounce of twist (rolling tobacco) for my father, I think it cost 1/6d (7陆p). Everybody used to roll their own back then.

I don鈥檛 really know how we managed in Brighton Street, it was only a two up two down and there was five of us. We used to have to sleep top-to-tail in the same bed. We had a front room but were only allowed to sit in that on a Sunday. We didn鈥檛 have proper water in the house, we had a tap in the yard and used to have a big pot of hot at the side of the fire 鈥� we had to ladle it out 鈥� there was no tap on it. We had a wash sink outside in the yard to do your washing in. It had a wooden round top and you had to fill it with water from the fire or had to heat the water from underneath it. We had a dolly-tub and I used to have to help to do that. My mother used to wash on a Monday and on a Tuesday she used to mangle, and what have you. Everything had to be starched and then ironed. I remember having to turn the mangle for my mam, it was a great big iron handle and it used to come off. You couldn鈥檛 turn it with one hand it was that heavy you needed to used two hands to turn it around. We had a wooden dolly-stick and wooden tongs to get the clothes out of the hot water. My mother always used to use Reckitts Blue to do all the whites with and it was about three days before the washing was all out of the way. I remember the soap we used to use; carbolic!

We all had our own jobs to do on a Friday. My job was to polish a brass tap outside, a brass tap inside and all the brass doorknobs. That would be me, every Friday morning, polishing all the brasses. On a Friday night we used to get the tin bath out and we all used to get in the same water, one after the other, whether you needed it or not. After we鈥檇 had our baths we used to sit there in out nightclothes and mum used to get this jar of malt out. We all had to have a big spoonful and it was terrible. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good for yer鈥� she used to tell us.

You couldn鈥檛 go to doctors then, it used to cost too much, you used to have to go to a little shop, it was like a little surgery, on the corner of Thomas Street, on Holderness Road. If you was poorly your mother used to have to take you there for a bottle of medicine, or what have you. It was next door to the furniture shop. When I was little, my mother was cleaning over the mantle piece and their was this big black kettle of boiling water on the fire. Well I wanted to be by didn鈥檛 I, being little I couldn鈥檛 wait and I knocked this big black kettle of water all down my side. My mother screamed, and you remember them big old-fashioned prams? Well she put me in one of them and ran all the way from Barnsley Street to Royal Infirmary, the old one that used to be in Prospect Street, and I was screaming all the way there and I had this great big blister on my side. I鈥檝e got no scar on my side now. You didn鈥檛 have any injections or creams then; I always remember this nurse cam in and said stop crying. There was two of them and so I couldn鈥檛 see what they were doing they put a pillow on my head. I was scared because I thought I was going to end up dead.

When I stared work I used to go to the hairdressers at the top of William Street. When you went for a perm鈥� it was 10/6d (52陆p) and you sat in a big chair under this big thing and she used to use wires and wind them right though your hair. We used to pay a shilling (5p) a week to be in this draw and when it was our turn we used to get a perm鈥�. When we was little, after we鈥檇 had our bath and washed our hair, our mother used to plat our hair. We all had 鈥榬ag-plats鈥� in our hair.

On a Sunday, my father, , we used to get dressed in our viol dress, little white socks and little black shoes with a button across and we鈥檇 a straw hat with a little flower on it, tied with ribbon under our chin; he used to take us to Queens Hall in Alfred Gelder Street, it isn鈥檛 there now, its where they鈥檝e built the new court house. We had to go Queens Hall, my mother used to have to stay at home and cook the dinner while we went. He used to take us up to pier beforehand, to the Horse-wash, and we used to watch the horses going down and get washed. There鈥檚 a monument there, King Billy, and my dad used to say to us; 鈥淓very Sunday morning鈥�, he said, 鈥渂efore you get up, King Billy goes down and waters his horse.鈥� 鈥� and we all believed him. While we was there my father used to go in the pub near King Billy for his gill of beer while we played on the pier. He used to take us back home for our Sunday lunch and then we had to go all the way back to Queens Hall with our 鈥楽tar Cards鈥� and we used to have to go to Sunday School to get our cards stamped. As soon as we got back home our father used to say 鈥淟et鈥檚 see your cards鈥� and we had to have a star on it. Our Sunday School teacher, they called her Miss Shilling, well before she came, we used to go playing around. They had a big organ there and we were always playing around on it before Miss Shilling came in. It was nice, we enjoyed it and she was ever so nice a teacher and she read the bible to us.
It was Methodist and every Monday night my mother used to go off to Mothers Meeting. There was a big step you had to go up to get into the hall. They used to get a cup of tea and a biscuit, I used to go sometimes and it cost tuppence (2d), the meetings used to be really popular at Queens Hall. It was they only free time they had, her and her sisters, my Aunt Mabel and my Aunt Beatty.

In them days they used to walk the cattle all the way down Holderness Road to cattle market near pier. I remember one time when we was out shopping, me and my mother, it was on a Monday, and she said 鈥淥oh, the cows are coming!鈥�; we used to be frightened of these cows. A couple of them got loose and they were running in shops and what have you. My mother said 鈥淢y God!鈥� and she grabbed me.

And there used to be a meat market where you鈥檇 all go and on a Saturday afternoon, they all used to wait until Saturday afternoon when it was getting on and they鈥檇 be selling off all the meat; about 1/11d (10p) or 2/6d (12陆p) or something like that and they used to come with big joints of meat. It wasn鈥檛 all hygienic like it is now though.

On Holderness Road, past Courtney Street, there was Gallon鈥檚 there, Gallon鈥檚 grocery shop and Lipton鈥檚, my mother always used to go to Lipton鈥檚 because she liked their bacon best. It was all laid out in strips, on trays, it cost about 1/3d (6p) but it used to taste, not like now; not that I eat it any more 鈥� I鈥檓 a vegetarian these days. I have been since we moved to Ottringham about 20 years ago. Well my brother-in-law used to work on a farm and asked me if I鈥檇 have half a lamb if he had the other half. Well it brought it in a basket and it was all running in blood. I gave it all away because all I kept thinking was that if I hadn鈥檛 ordered it that poor little lamb would still have been running around the fields. I felt awful.
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Added by: Alan Brigham - www.hullwebs.co.uk

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