大象传媒

(This story was submitted to the People's War site by Paul Bellamy of Falkirk Library on behalf of Margaret Meek and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions)

My family had just moved from 41 Forth Street to 7 Rodney Street, Grangemouth because we were a quarter of a point over crowded when the Second World War broke out. I went to the Grange School for girls and had air raid drill, so when the sirens went we had to hide under our desks, which at the time was a bit of a giggle. We also had to wear our gas masks for a short time every week to get used to it. I was glad to take it off as I felt as if I was suffocating and the rubbery smell was awful. We carried our gas masks in cardboard boxes on a string for over one鈥檚 shoulder. Later on we could buy Rexine bags for them.

The school windows were criss crossed with tape to lessen the chance of flying glass fragments. The blackout meant no lights showing anywhere. Black material was used for windows, some just like curtains, and others had a wooden frame with black material attached to it to fit neatly into the window frames. Adults had buff ration books and children green ones. I had a chrome bracelet bought from Woolworths in the High Street Falkirk with my name and address and identity number engraved on it. Children were evacuated from towns and cities to safer areas without their parents and lived with other families.

Plots of land were taken over to grow vegetables, although the Merchant Navy saw to it that we had food. People rushed to the shops and stood in huge queues when bananas or oranges came in. The smokers didn鈥檛 like it when in a packet of ten cigarettes they got two pasha cigarettes which smelt and tasted awful. Men and women were called up or joined the Armed Forces, Merchant Navy or Land Army. Others kept the home fires burning by working in munitions, factories, mines etc and being Air Raid Wardens, Firemen or in the Home Guard. A brick air raid shelter was built in our garden, divided into four compartments for the four families in the block.

My mother made a fire screen from a picture frame and used silver paper for the design on the glass, the rest of which was painted black. My Dad, a joiner with ICI made the feet for it. Marion Adams and I (Margaret Suttie) sold raffle tickets for it as did the shop in Lumley Street where it was displayed, so the money would help to buy a Spitfire. The Grangemouth Advertiser did a write up about it. Betty Dempster and I sold the poppies in November. Dad was in the National Fire Service. My mother was a member of the WVS and collected for many charities and started a National Savings Group and had many badges, including a very simple one comprising a red S with a crown above it for collecting salvage. She continued collecting for charities and National Savings till 1977 when she got the Queen鈥檚 Silver Jubilee Medal.

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