大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Pat Campbell, and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs. Campbell fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

The story was transcribed from audio tape recordings.
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When the war started, I was four years old. I don鈥檛 remember the war being declared, but when we had the blitz, I do remember that we had an Anderson Shelter. I was taken out of there and I put my father鈥檚 tin hat on. I saw the Doodlebugs 鈥� V-1s and V-2s. I remember seeing one of them coming over with its tail on fire. Where I lived, at Grimesthorpe, there were wooden huts that were known as 鈥渢he huts鈥�; they were wooden houses, all along the road there. We were quite near the industry. At the beginning of the war, they burnt them down because if the enemy had bombed them, they would have lit the sky up for many miles around. They did it there and also on Holywell Road.

My first memories are from 1940 when the V-1s and V-2鈥檚 went over. My mother was permanently in hospital. She was bombed out of the City General (as it was then), then they moved her to the Nether Edge Hospital where a bomb dropped outside the main block in front of the main door. They couldn鈥檛 take her out, so they just placed her under the bed and smothered her with pillows. They had to send her home; she couldn鈥檛 walk because she was paralysed. She had to have nursing all the time; it was six months before they could get her back to the hospital.

One of my memories was of the gas masks, the Mickey Mouse gasmasks that they would put babies in. I remember going to be fitted with a gasmask and seeing these big ones, and of course, we got to know our identity number, which is now the medical number, so that鈥檚 a thing you never forget. I can remember that from me being little. They were very austere years, but I was never hungry, we were never deprived of food; my granny was a very good manager. She could make a meal out of almost nothing. I remember the points 鈥� A's and B鈥檚, of food rationing 鈥� we got about 2 oz (ounces 鈥� 35 to a Kg) of sweets, then there were clothing points.

Granny used to make under slips. She used to cut my dresses down, the ones I had grown out of, and she鈥檇 cut them away so that she could make, whatever them in colour. We had to wear them underneath, for wamth.

One of my favourite foods was reconstituted egg, and mashed potatoes, when we could get it. I remember saccharin being on the table, there was never a lot of sugar. There was dried milk, but I was never hungry. We tried growing vegetables on top of the air raid shelter 鈥� there was a slogan: 鈥淒ig for victory.鈥�

We had two rabbits but they disappeared. I found out what happened to them and I never ate rabbit after that. I can鈥檛 even eat it now.

There was queuing for cigarettes 鈥� a neighbour would come to my granny (whom I was brought up by) and say, 鈥淢rs. Ashmore, Mrs. Ashmore, they鈥檝e got some cigarettes at such and such a place," or 鈥渢hey鈥檝e got some tomatoes.鈥� There they鈥檇 go and get them. I remember going down Attercliffe when it was a proper shopping centre, with Banners, a big departmental store. We didn鈥檛 need to go to the city. Granny went in with a head scarf on, queued up, then she came out, took her headscarf and glasses off, then went in again. But, I鈥檝e still got my own teeth, there weren鈥檛 many sweets and I think on the whole, it was a healthier diet, much healthier than now.

I didn鈥檛 like school, I went to Grimesthorpe School until I was eleven. We had double summer time which was lovely, because we had late nights when it was really light. That was brought in to help the farmers and to hinder the enemy aircraft, so when the bombers came over from Germany, they wouldn鈥檛 be able to bomb as early in the day. There was also the barrage balloon on Petre Street 鈥� sometimes the balloon would be up, or it would be down 鈥� it just seemed so normal.

When the war finished, my granny took me onto the hill on Petre Street and I saw the lights for the first time, all across the east end and Attercliffe. It was the first time I鈥檇 ever seen lights on. The first banana I ever saw was when a soldier brought one back from somewhere; I was at Sunday School. Rationing didn鈥檛 finish until the 1950鈥檚. During the war, there were no road signs anywhere. A gentleman I knew used to deliver around the countryside and there were no signs to say this way, or that way to wherever he was going.

None of my family went away to fight, because we didn鈥檛 have a big family, but my father was called up after the war; he said, 鈥淚鈥檝e got an ulcer.鈥� He was told, 鈥淒on鈥檛 worry son, it鈥檚 all in yer head.鈥� Six weeks later, they invalided him out; he鈥檇 got an ulcer. During the war he had been in the steelworks, as was my grandfather. They worked at English Steel and an incendiary bomb did drop there, but they must have put it out OK.

There was a lot of tension in the families because nobody knew what was going to happen the next day. My father was in the armed guard and my mother would get upset every time he went out, in case he didn鈥檛 come back. I think housewives had it hard because they had to manoeuvre the budgets and the food coupons. I had to have my feet measured to see if I could have extra coupons because I was so tall and needed bigger shoes. I had to have boys鈥� shoes. I think that after the war, little boys and girls would see their fathers came home, and it wasn鈥檛 always a happy reunion; it was like having a stranger coming in.

Because of the war, many women in Sheffield had to work in the steelworks and I remember them coming home, smelling of oil. Women started wearing trousers. That was the beginning of the emancipation of women. They were recognised as, although not independent, certainly a contributory factor to the economy because of what they were earning and how they could do things. I think some of them were dis-satisfied after the war. The whole workforce seemed to be mobilised because there didn鈥檛 seem to be anyone who didn鈥檛 work, whether it was in the Land Army or whatever, guards on trains and things like that.

There were some single storey pre-fabricated cafes called the British Restaurant, where we could get dinners at reduced prices. They were run by the council, they had them in Leeds, at the Town Hall and would produce food for people who wanted to come in and eat, and it was for anybody.

People didn鈥檛 go our much; going to the cinema was quite an adventure. We used to go to the cinema to see the news. At the end of the war, I went to the Coliseum in Spital Hill. They showed us Belsen; the ovens at Belsen. I never forgot seeing that. They always used to play 鈥淕od Save The King鈥� at the end of a performance, but they don鈥檛 do that now. One aspect of the war was that we were shown how to manage on what was available, rather than taking things for granted, as is the case today.

In Attercliffe, on Brightside Lane were houses on one side, and a wall with the sidings over on the other, and it was amazing how much coal used to go over that wall on dark nights. People used to take wheelbarrows and cans and they got bags of coke too. That was to supplement the coal that they already had.

The war was a very good time for some people because a lot of people made a lot of money, producing armaments for a start. My granddad used to bring wedges home from work. He had a case with his lunch in it and he used to come back with this wood in it, again to supplement the heating.

Things changed here when the Americans came over, things became more glamorous. There were films such as, 鈥淭he Yanks Are Coming, The Yanks Are Coming鈥�. I think a lot of the girls fell in love with the Americans.

Again, I say that we should appreciate what we鈥檝e got here, because that little stretch of water saved us; it was down to a few men. Being in this country, we didn鈥檛 know what was going on with the Jews in the labour camps. I think a lot of people didn鈥檛 actually believe it anyway when it was brought to the fore. You can imagine it was just a kaleidoscope in a melee of different emotions, spiritually and whatever. It was just a time we had to get through.

Pr-BR

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