大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Dawn Cunningham of Lutterworth Community College on behalf of Brian Barnacle and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I remember hearing the War announcement on the radio. I was only 8 so it didn鈥檛 really mean anything, my parents were really shocked though. It eventually registered with me how serious it was. From then on we constantly listened for information on the radio and we used to go and watch the Pathe news.

I was living in Walcote at the time and I often used to watch the planes going over to Coventry. My dad was colour blind so he became an A.F.S During blackout my mum and Dad were constantly worrying about not letting any light out.

I went to school in Walcote and then to the Modern School in Lutterworth. At school we used to have gardening lessons and we used the food that we grew in the school. Mr Davies taught gardening and woodwork.

We organised our own games, and had as much fun making up the games as we did playing them. We used to have paperchases and fox and hounds when 2 kids would go off and then you had to track them down. We used to run for miles across the fields.

I had a train set and we used to play 5 stones or snobs with bits of metal from the foundary. A cardboard box was a real treat because that could be whatever you wanted it to be.

We also felt that we were having great fun.
When I was 14 I went to work on a farm at Misterton and I enjoyed farming. When I was 20 I was called up to the RAF for the Suez crisis.

I liked the taste of dried egg and we had a big garden and 2 allotments for food. They say the food was healthier then and I think it was. We had a Sunday joint every week, but we only had chicken on special occasions. I can not ever remember having a problem with food supplies.

We all had 2 sets of clothes, I for school and the other for home. My mum used to knit all our jumpers.

As children we contributed to the war effort as well. We used to go around the village with an old pram collecting newspapers. Then keep them in a shed for recycling. A lorry used to then come and take them all away. I was really happy when the war ended, it was a real relief.

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