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During the war I lived with my mother and father and four sisters in a small holding in the village of Dunswell, which is situated between Beverley and Hull. I cannot recall ever being short of food during the war. My father kept chickens for their eggs. He bred rabbits and pigs for their meat and most of our milk came from the goat, which was kept tethered in the back field. Goat’s milk makes lovely rice pudding! We grew all our own vegetables and had gooseberry and blackberry bushes. We also had apple and pear trees so were never short of delicious fresh fruit.
As a child I attended the little village School in Dunswell. Children of all ages, from primary age until leaving age at 14 years attended this school. We all had a very close relationships with each other, the older children taking on very caring roles, looking after the young ones. Two of my special school friends were Les Pidd and Ted Redding. We were all in the same class and grew up together. Ted lived on a small holding very near to my home and Les lived at Thearne, just down the road from us. At the outbreak of the war both of them joined up and sadly were killed. Ted had been stationed in Bridlington and had his life taken as a result of an air-raid and Les lost his life during the Battle of Britain. I recall attending the funeral of Ted at the Bridlington Priory, having attended as the official school representative. It was a very sad time. Both the boys had been very special friends and I will remember them both with affection for as long as I live.
When I left school I worked in service at The Police House in Dunswell, after which I worked in service for a Mr Fields, who lived in the rather posh house, Dunswell Grange. Mr Fields owned the local garage and had motor show rooms, importing American cars before the war broke out. When the war broke out he piloted planes, transporting them all over the country and was sadly killed doing this job.
My father used to say ‘No daughter of mine will ever work in a factory!’ That is, until the war broke out! I eventually got a job at Armstrong’s in Beverley working on munitions. We would cycle the four miles to the factory during the blackout, working the shift system. This was either 6am to 2pm, 2pm to 10pm or the nightshift 10pm to 6am. The wages were awful really, just over £2 per week. However we were paid an extra 5 bob for the night shift.
Dunswell was a relatively safe place to be during the war. However it was still not far enough away from the large cities to be utilised as suitable for the evacuation of children. However, I recall one or two people would stay over regularly — perhaps they felt a little safer in the area surrounded by the farm animals! When the air raids were taking place over Hull, we could all hear the dreadful noises and the whole sky would light up to such an extent that we felt very much part of the ‘action’. One night we were convinced that the Dunswell Garage had been hit, as the sky had turned into such a shocking shade of red and yellow…but this proved to be a false alarm fortunately. Nevertheless, some other area close by had been hit and people were obviously either injured or killed.
My most endearing memory of the war years is of how people helped each other through thick and thin with a grim determination and the will to win. Not everyone survived those dreadful days but those who did will never forget the friends and loved-ones who gave their lives for their Country.

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