大象传媒

After several visits to Europe, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain made the announcement that Britain was at war with Germany. My parents, sister and I were listening to the wireless and we were all stunned, although it was not entirely unexpected.
We lived in Stranmillis, near the first locks on the River Lagan, which would be considered a suburban area in Belfast.
Many church and public halls were opened to give out ration books, identity cards and gasmasks and every house had to prepare for the blackout.
My boyfriend and I were in the parlour when the warden called and said we were showing a chink of light; he took our name and address and we got summoned. I went to court and the judge scolded me, and fined me 7/6 - 37 1/2 pence.
Air raid shelters were being built, so my parents cleared out under the stairs and made an air raid shelter for us.
For the next year or so, we went to work, got up through the night when the sirens sounded, queued up for batteries, nylon stockings, said goodbye to some of our friends who were joining the forces and coped with the rationing.
Fisherwick Church had a programme to help refugees and they asked the members to accommodate them. One man, a Polish Jew, Dr Hans Weil came to live in our street while the church got a passage for him to America where his wife and children were.
He visited us and enjoyed supper with us; he spoke good English and photographed my sister and I for payment which was useful to him.
What we thought would never happen did happen. In the spring of 1941, the Belfast Blitz came. We heard the drone of the bombers and the explosions. Where we lived, we only got incendiary bombs. One fell in our street and my sister bravely threw a sandbag on it as we had been taught to do.
Walking on the Dublin Road one lunchtime, I saw a convoy of several army lorries piled high with coffins, hundreds of coffins. After seeing the damage and loss of life, I decided I must do war work. So I applied and was accepted by Mackies on the Springfield Road to work in their aircraft shop. I went to work on day shift to learn how to work a ward 4 lathe and then was given a lathe for myself and went on 6am-2pm and 2pm-10pm shifts. I made blots and screws of various sizes, 6inch to grub screws; each screw was tested by an inspector who used a micrometer which measured in thousands. The work on the lathe was sprayed with a milk like liquid called glutter which had a horrible smell. The girls wore white boiler suits or overalls and we sometimes got glutter on our clothes going home on the tram - we were not very welcome by the other passengers.
I made friends in Mackies with Sadie, who worked making breach rings for guns and Kathleen who worked with shells. A concert was held most weeks in the canteen at lunchtime and a gospel meeting on Tuesday lunchtime; Sadie and I attended both.
My boyfriend was a plasterer and he was asked to do foreman with men to repair the damaged houses in the Duncairn area. Because of the death of an elderly man who was evacuated, we were able to get a house in Hogarth Street in February and we planned to marry in June 1943.
My mother, sister and I went to town to look for wedding clothes. Robb's shop in Castle Place (where the arcade is now) had windows full of beautiful velvet, in 4 or 5 shades from pale to dark of every colour. I chose marina blue and my sister cerise and we had our dresses made. We were astonished to see so much material. A ship must have come in - boats bringing goods were often delayed or lost altogether.
We went to buy a wedding ring in Beringers, Howard Street. New rings were all the same style, just different sizes. They were called utility, thirty two shillings each. (I am still wearing mine)
Furniture and household goods were all utility (meaning they were made from whatever material was available - for example, as metal was very scarce, handles on drawers and cupboards were made from wood)
We were married in Ulsterville Church a few days after I left Mackies to be a housewife and in February 1945 I had a baby girl. After the house repairing job was finished, my husband went to do welding in the shipyard.
We went to town for a short time on Victory Day and saw Royal Avenue and High Street full of people singing and dancing. We were so glad the war was over.
Thank you for reading my story.

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