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The Home Front Questionnaire

When I was still at Primary School (about 1993), I studied World War 2 and asked my Nan a few questions about what life was like on the Home Front.
My Nan was 25 at the time war broke out and had a baby, my Uncle David. She lived in Portsmouth.

1) How old were you when war broke out?
I was twenty-five.

2) Where did you live?
At Kirby Road, North End.

3) Were you a worker? If so, what did you do? Was it dangerous?
No, I couldn’t work because of my baby.

4) Do you remember the Blitz? What was the experience like?
I remember it. It was awful. We spent nearly every night in our Anderson shelter.

5) What do you remember about the Fire, Police and ARP services?
When the Blitz started, the services worked at their very hardest.

6) What rations did you have?
One adults weekly rations in May 1941 consisted of:
·225g jam ·3 pints milk
·170g butter ·115g bacon
·55g cooking fat ·30g cheese
·225g sugar ·1 egg
·55g tea ·1 shillings worth of meat

7) What difficulties were there over food, travel, sleep and other things we now take for granted?
Travel: You could go anywhere unless they had been bombed or the services were on strike.
Sleep: During the Blitz, you would always get interrupted by sirens.
Food: If you heard that there was some fruit, you would run to join a very long queue to get some!

8) What do you remember about Anderson shelters?
It was in the back garden, made of corrugated iron. It had frames along the sides for beds and a deck chair at the end for David to sleep in. Emergency rations were also kept in there.

9) Were you ever moved out or bombed out?
Yes, we got bombed out when we lived in Kirby Road. We moved to another part of Portsmouth, to my Mothers’. We slept in Bishops Waltham sometimes, and in Purbrook for a while. We also lived in London Road, North End.

10) Do you remember D-Day? If so, what do you remember?
When we were at Purbrook, we saw planes going overhead. I couldn’t sleep. I saw the army in Crookhorn.

11) Do you remember VE Day? What was it like in Britain?
I was living in London Road at the time. I heard it on the radio that Germany had given up. I shouted out of the window to the bus queue; they thought I was mad!

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