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This story is written by Zobia Ahmed and Rokayya Mulla, about the life of Henrietta Hocking/Aspinall.

‘War is senseless. Innocent people die.’

Henrietta was born on 9th April 1907. She is now 98 years old. She lived through the first and the Second World War. At the beginning of the Second World War, which is 1939, she was 32 years old. She was born in Mill Hill, grew up there and also got married there. She left her husband, because she didn’t like what he said to her. She has only one daughter who lives in Mill Hill. Henrietta now lives in Lancashire.

At that time there were no televisions, but there were radios. Henrietta remembers hearing Chamberlain’s announcement that war has broken out with Germany. All lads had to join the army; if you didn’t go you would go to the pit mines. She was 12 years old when she first started working of her own will. She worked in a factory as a ring spinner. A ring spinner turned raw cotton into thread to be weaved. Henrietta had an operation when she was 36 years old. During the war, she worked on munitions as a canary worker in Lower Darwen.

In school they had strict teachers. They had to sit on foams. She knitted stockings for her teachers.

Henrietta saw a bombing in Penny Street. There were no bombings near Mill Hill. They had an Anderson shelter but didn’t use it, because there were no bombings. They used it for storage instead. She said she saw Manchester and Liverpool burning. None of her family or friends got bombed. Henrietta had 10 brothers and sisters. None of them are alive today. Her nephews were evacuated and went to war. None of them came back besides one who was badly wounded, and didn’t live very long after that. Her friend’s husband was also in the army and died there. Henrietta saw Japanese Prisoners of war coming home.

Henrietta lived through the first and the Second World War. She said there was rationing in both wars but was more severe in the Second World War. Food was rationed in weights. Dead meat was rationed and whale meat. She describes whale meat to be very strong and fishy. She said it looked like a lump of meat. As there was such sever rationing Henrietta’s family grew their own fruit and vegetables. They grew soft fruits, such as apples. They also had chicken and ducks which they got their eggs from.

Henrietta saw an aeroplane come in Mill Hill which was quite low. It was the first aeroplane she had seen. She was not evacuated, but a lot of evacuees came to Mill Hill. She thought they were just ordinary children.

Henrietta’s parents were strict. They didn’t let her go out late at night. She had to go to bed at 8 o’ clock. Before they went to sleep they had family gatherings and used to sing songs to each other. Her brother had a mouth organ and her sister had a banjo. She said families were closer in those days than today.

She enjoys listening to operas and used to dance. They used to dance at Saint Francis and did the waltz and kwik step. They also played a game called Buck ‘n’ stick. It was like a bat and you spun it to see how far you could get it. They got their jam from Ewood Picture Place.

We are very honoured to have met Henrietta who has lived through two world wars. We found her story very interesting and thank her for sharing it with us.

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