大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Barbara Murray of the Belfast Education & Library Board / Holywood Arches Library on behalf of Ruby Purdy [the author]and has been added to the site with her permission.
The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

Ruby's Memories

There were many interesting events all through the 20th Century, the First World War and for the people of Ireland, the 1922 troubles and the division of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State.

I am going to concentrate on the late 30鈥檚 and the early 40鈥檚 when Europe was in turmoil with Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Franco.

Many of our relations and friends joined the International Brigade and went to Spain where some lost their lives fighting against Franco and his dictatorship. My husband along with many friends organised foodstuffs, especially tinned full cream sweetened milk. He invited his customers to donate this item, which was then sent to Spain, for the young children as they got the benefit of the sugar as well as the milk.

Some Spanish merchant ships were impounded in British ports including Belfast and Londonderry. The crews of these ships were then left stranded in these ports. Some of the crews had their families with them on the ships and a well known local politician organised some friends to help the stranded Spanish sailors and their families, by inviting them into their homes.

We had two men for sometime, when one of them took ill. By this time a large house had been acquired and my two Spanish visitors wanted to be with their own people.

The organiser had a holiday home in a nearby seaside town where he took each of the families for a week. As he had a Spanish family staying at his own home, he asked my husband and I to take this family to our home, as he was going to be away in the holiday home with another family. This family, a father, mother and young daughter, stayed with us until war was declared on 3.9.39. Shortly afterwards another friend acquired accommodation for them in the country as they were terrified of the bombs that might be rained upon us after what they had suffered in Spain. In fact one night of an air raid, 1941 while my husband and I and our second child were in our home in Torrens Avenue, the rear of our house received damage with the bombs. The next day we had to be evacuated to Tullynore, between Ballynahinch and Hillsborough where my brother, who was in business in Hillsborough, made contact with a farmer who had a vacant farmhouse and agreed to rent it to us.

There were nineteen of our whole family in that house, my mother, father, 3 brothers a sister and myself and our immediate families. Three of the children were under 1 year old, one fourteen months and the others all under ten years old. It was really hectic living there as those working in Belfast had to travel by train. Travelling to and from the train to our new home meant a journey on bicycles in hail, rain or snow.

We were very lucky as we made many friends, who supplied us with eggs and home churned butter. Our ration books enabled us to have a roast at the weekend, which was stretched out for a few days. We were able to grow our own vegetables and we had a goat which kept us supplied with milk.

It wasn鈥檛 all gloom as we got involved with the locals. There was an old army Nissan hut nearby, which was big enough for the locals to have a table tennis club. This club visited other clubs round the country for table tennis matches etc.

One of the photographs shows the house where we lived with my father, mother, brother, brother in law, and his children.

The other photograph was taken as a joke showing mother on the auto cycle, my brother in law with his family and my son on the right of the picture. My mother at this time was in her sixties. Both photographs were taken in 1941.

My husband and family remained at Tullynore until 1943 when we returned to Holywood Road, Belfast before the end of the war. Sometimes at night when the warning siren went off, we had to gather up the children out of their beds, dress them in warm clothing and walk out into the country. (Orangefield area which was plots and open ground).

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.