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This story has been submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from CSV Berkshire on behalf of Greta Edwards and has been added to the site with her permission.Greta Edwards fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I was six years old at that time. I remember my grandmother had an open house for evacuees in her country home in Wargrave. I still remember there were evacuees sleeping on the floors, the landing and really all over the house. They used to bring their blankets, mattresses, straw pallass (pillows). My grandmother would usually keep evacuees in her house for two or three days but I do remember times when people stayed on from the beginning of the war right to the end.

The evacuees were mostly from London and were used to living in crowded buildings. They seemed almost scared of open fields. Some of the children didn’t know anything about vegetables. They thought potatoes grew on trees and would refuse to eat anything green. All they ever wanted to eat was fish and chips. But my grandmother fed them fresh farm vegetables and they all left the house fit and healthy.

We were all introduced to a new meat during the war something we had never tasted before- whale meat. It used to come in cans. I also remember making pineapple out of turnips. We used to cube up turnips and soak it in fizzy lemonade powder and kid ourselves that it tasted like pineapple. We also used a lot of dried egg powder in our cooking. We made scrambled eggs, omelettes and it was quite lovely actually.

We never had new clothes or shoes. I remember making our own clog shoes (take wooden shoe bases and put ribbons on them). They were very uncomfortable. Everything at that time was ‘make-do and mend yourself’.

I also remember going “hipping” — collecting rose hips with the kids. We were paid a shilling a pound (it took an awful lot to make a pound of rose hips). It was bought by people who used rose hips to make syrup for babies.

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