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This story gathered by Gloria Davies has been added to the People’s War website by Anne Wareing of the Lancashire Home Guard on behalf of Joan Shiavo, the story is in her own words…

During the war years 1939 — 1945 I lived at 19 Allum Street Ancoates Manchester. It was a very close community. A lady and gentleman, Nancy and Dad Bailey looked after my two children so that I could work, I worked pressing soldiers uniforms.

Dad Bailey was the lock keeper for the Rochdale Canal and he built our air raid shelter under the bridge in Union Street Ancoates. Every night at 7 o’clock I went to the shelter with my children. I was so afraid of the air raids. I would stay there until the next morning. Many of the neighbours came also and I did this all through the war years.

Fruit was very scarce, then the news would go round that Hollins’ shop had oranges and bananas and within five minutes there would be a queue a mile long and everyone would get two oranges and two bananas. All other food we had ration books for. Those with big families did better and if you ran short of something you could always get help. We had coupons for clothes and dried milk and eggs were used. From the butchers, depending on how many ration books you had, you would get some steak, two chops and some sausage if you were lucky. But funny as it seems, you always seemed to manage and we had good meals.

One day my sister and I went to visit our Aunt Nellie who lived on Maudth Road off Princess Road, while we were there the Manchester blitz happened and we had to go in the air raid shelter. When we came out the next morning, the front of her shops had been blown away. A big bomb had dropped on the playing fields at the corner of Maudth Road.

The next day we saw the full impact of the blitz, Manchester was burning; everything was blown to bits. Baxingdales on Miller Street was wiped out on both sides of the street. Nobody was allowed to go near the centre of the city. It was chaos; lots of people lost their lives. It took us a long tie to get over it, I hope we never see another war.

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