大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Odilia Roberts from the Derby Action Team on behalf of Vera Mary Wragg and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I remember as a 9 year old the blackout being the first unusual thing to contend with. Men wearing black alien suits, a tin helmet on their heads with the letters ARP emblazoned on it parading up and down the streets looking for any chink of light shining from the houses. If any were discovered they quickly ordered the resident to rectify it immediately or be summoned. It must have been quite worrying for anyone with a nervous disposition to think they could have unwittingly been the cause of German aircraft attracted to our street!

My mother gave my elderly aunt a lighted candle in a jam jar to see her way home on one very dark night. She lived about 100 yards away and about 5 minutes later returned to say her candle had blown out. She was apparently halfway home.

It was decided to fence off part of the lawn and get some ducks to eke out our egg ration and I, aged 10 or 11, was despatched on my bike to fetch some rolls of corrugated iron from a place a mile or so away. My younger sister was to accompany me on her bike but I don鈥檛 think much thought went into how to get it back. It ended with me balancing the roll of iron on my handlebars and trying to walk and steer the bike while holding onto the cargo. Inevitably halfway back it slipped and landed on my thumb, which bled profusely. It was the first time I had stitches and I still have the scar.

The ducks were troublesome, always escaping, waddling and quacking up the road with my mother and I waving our arms about trying to head them back.

There were lots of ways to make rations go further and we were well fed, but you may notice from old films that there were very few fat people around.

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