大象传媒

I was 14 years old when the war started. I left school that year, and, as my father had bought a Grocers shop 3 years before , I started working in the shop.

Then rationing was brought in. Everybody had ration books and had to register with a Grocer and Butcher. This created lots of work, as small amounts had to be weighed and packed. It quite often involved working on Sundays. I would bone a side of bacon, making sure that no meat was wasted. Cheeses came whole with a linen rind which had to be stripped off, a smelly horrible job.

Our shop was in Filton, in the north-east of Bristol, which was quickly expanding because of increasing number of people working at the aeroplane factory.

One Wednesday afternoon, when there was a man delivering goods to us, the Air Raid siren sounded. The delivery man was going to sit in his cab, but Mother always insisted that everyone had to go and sit in the Anderson Shelter in the back garden. So into the shelter we all went. When the all clear went we could see a bomb had been dropped in the field opposite us, and a piece of shrapnel had gone through the roof of the driver's cab onto the seat where he would have been sitting. Just goes to show "Mum" knows best.

Although food was short, people didn't grumble very much. They were always willing to help each other out. We were all in the same boat weren't we!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.