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I was 11 when war broke out and lived in a 4 storey Victorian semi-detached house off the Banbury Road in Oxford. My most vivid memories are of shortages. Nearly everything was rationed and we seemed to queue for everything. The weekly ration was two ounces of meat, one and a half ounces of butter, one egg and 2 pints of milk. Dried egg powder, dried milk powder, sweets, potatoes, bread (National Wholemeal loaf) and sugar were also rationed.
To supplement the rations we kept 2 hives of bees and rabbits in the garden. We also had 6 chickens. Even though wood was rationed my father had just enough to make a chicken house, very good it was too. It was called ‘Chickenham Palace’. We dug the lawn to plant potatoes and grew vegetables on the allotment in Norham Gardens. There was ‘Double Summertime’ during the war which gave us an extra hour of light in the evening.
There were coupons for clothes and materials. Often only ‘Utility’ standard, plain, serviceable, underwear and suits were available. The Americans sent clothes parcels which were much appreciated.
Mother queued up to buy a ration of parachute nylon or silk from which she made eiderdown covers, cushion covers and Christmas present tea cosies. Father unpicked the stitches and Mother sewed. A yellow parachute was later made into the dress I was wearing when I met my future husband.
We were only able to have 7 inches of water in the bath. Unused pots and pans and garden railings from the low brick wall on the front gardens were given to be melted down for aircraft manufacture and munitions.
There was of course no TV. In our house the wireless brought us the news almost every hour. Three large Daily Telegraph maps of the war zones decorated the walls of the living room and little flags were pinned to them to show the progress of the fighting.

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