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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Roger Marsh of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Sheila Hurst and has been added to the site with the author permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

These memories are taken from a special edition of a newsletter kindly submitted by Longstone Local History Group. It was edited by Liz Greenfield and published in Autumn 2002. Longstone was a village which sheltered evacuees and was comparatively unaffected by air attack, although the night sky was often lit by the fires of the Sheffield Blitz.

Longstone Local History Group - Frank, Adeline and Sheila Hurst
by Sheila Hurst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Other parts to this story are at:

Introduction: A7887487

Roy Finney’s Story: A7887784

Flames of Sheffield: A7888657

Molly Thornhill’s Story: A7888882

Tony Greenfield’s Story: A7889133

Martin Simon’s Story: A7889557

Stella Holmes’ Story: A7889971

Home defence remembered: A7890230

Burma servicemen Remembered: A7890492

Norman Hoare’s Story: A7891004

Norman Hassal’s Story: A7891202

Women’s Institute: A7891888

One family’s War Part One: A7892562

One Family’s War Part Two: A7893534

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The outbreak of the Second World War brought evacuees to Great Longstone. We had a girl, from Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester, called Mona Rothery. She seemed to have lived on chips and didn't know that milk did not always come out of a bottle! She loved the apples from the garden, which upset her and gave her a terrible stomachache because she ate them before they were ripe. Mother would find apple cores under her bed! At school in order to accommodate the influx of extra children, we had a part time system. The village children went to school in the mornings and the evacuees in the afternoons. Later the barn of The Elms (now Churchlady House) was used for classes. A visiting local doctor, Dr. Bagot, also used it, as did the Girls’ Friendly Society for the performances of plays under the guidance of Miss Kathleen Noton and Miss Townsend. When we had rehearsals there at night, particularly in the winter with no lights because of the blackout, the vicar Mr. Trendell escorted us home. At that time there were troops from the Rifle Brigade camped out on Longstone Moor!

It must have been very uncomfortable for them and Frank remembered that one day, a soldier came to the door and asked if he could have a bath. He was invited in and had a hot bath. Soldiers from the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) were also billeted in the villages around Bakewell and they learnt to drive round here. Many people thought what a nuisance they were. I remember going to Monsal Head with my brothers to watch as they tried to drive up to the Headstones. We thought it was very funny when they slipped backwards because they couldn't change gear quickly enough.

It wasn't long before many of the evacuees returned home. There was a period called the phoney war when nothing much seemed to be happening. Mona was home by Christmas but those who stayed on fitted into the school. One upset occurred when all the scholarships went to the evacuees. Many of the local children were far in advance of them and there was quite a furore in the village. As well as the Manchester children, an orphanage from London was housed on the top floor of the hall. The girls all wore a grey and yellow uniform and attended the local schools. The matron and her helper ran a needlework and craft working party where many of the young people learnt to sew, making articles for sale. The proceeds from this went to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. We also knitted scarves, gloves and balaclavas for the troops and squares for blankets. The girl guides with their captain Miss Arning, gathered rose hips for making into syrup, wild plums and berries for jam making and even nettles for making beer and using as a vegetable in the spring.

As well as these evacuees, members of the Columbia Film Company were evacuated to Cressbrook Hall. They staged entertainments, plays and socials in the school at Cressbrook. My sister lived there and her husband was a manager of the school, so we were always invited to the shows and very good fun they were too.

As time went on, the air raid sirens wailed. We had to be able to get home within four minutes from the sound of the siren. Those children who couldn't reach home in time were invited to go to the house of a friend who lived nearer to school. I had to go with my friend Molly Skidmore who lived at a farm on the main road (where Mrs Kendal now lives). A national savings scheme was introduced at school and whatever we could afford, after spending our pocket money on our meagre sweet ration of two ounces a week, went into the savings account. If the school reached a certain target, £100, £500, or a fantastic £1000 in a year, there was usually a half-day holiday.

We were able to buy Horlicks tablets at school; I think they were very cheap, something like four for a penny. I loved them and always had some. We had competitions too. One I particularly remember was for handwriting because I won the prize. Ovaltine gave it and the prize was a whole box of bars of chocolate, a fantastic gift when we had so little sweets or chocolate. My excitement was dimmed when I got home and my mother opened up the box to find that there were several bars missing. We had milk at morning playtime, a third of a pint in little bottles. Later during the war, our milk came from Cox's farm in a churn and we had a choice of hot or cold. The hot milk was heated up on the old boiler in the boys’ cloakroom. When we had milk in the churn Mr. Buggins, the head teacher, used to skim off all the cream to take home!

We had days when we went from school to local farms to help with the harvest or to do routine work connected with growing crops. We helped with the potato picking at Thornhill’s. We also went up to Long Roods Farm, thinning turnips; the rows seemed to stretch forever. Good workers who stuck at it would find that Mr. Isaac Shimwell, the farmer, had put a little extra pay in their packets! Adeline remembers that when we were at Lady Manner’s School, we went to Hassop Farm to help with the potato picking. We also had a holiday in October to go and help the farmers. We went up to Bretton Clough working alongside Italian prisoners of war. A man, who lived at Holly Bank and worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, gave lifts to the potato field to anyone living in Longstone.

The pig club in the village was very popular. When the day arrived for the pig to be slaughtered, by the aptly named Mr. Bacon from Little Longstone, the children were all sent off for walks until the deed was done! People used to save their scraps and swill to feed the pigs. There was a ration of pig food for all members of the club. My father kept two pigs, one which was for the family, was allowed to reach 20 stones in weight. The other was for Mr. Frank Nelson, the pork butcher in Bakewell, who only wanted a 14 stone pig. Friends and neighbours shared in the bounty and there was much hard work to be done rendering the fat, cutting up the joints, salting the hams and bacon and making the black puddings and brawn. Mr. Bacon would say we could use everything and would tell us to catch the squeal in a bottle. We also kept rabbits and hens to add to our meat rations. We were sent out to gather from the hedgerows and fields: mushrooms, wild fruits and berries, anything to add to our diet. Nothing was wasted if it could be turned into something to eat or drink. We also went wooding, bringing back sacks of kindling wood and even quite big branches to be cut up to keep the home fires burning.

We saved all the cream from the top of the milk to make into butter. We poured the cream into a Woodpecker's cider bottle and shook it vigorously until it turned into butter. Surplus fruit and vegetables were bottled and canned. The canning took place at the institute and also at the vicarage. Much preserving was also done at home; eggs were pickled in isinglass and beans were salted. Jams and jellies were made with the saved sugar rations. We drank our tea and bottled coffee without sugar. Dried egg was used for cake making and omelettes; we had Spam and other rather dubious tinned meat.

When the blitz was on in Sheffield, we could see the city burning from our house; the sky was lit up and we could hear the bombs. We had to turn off all the lights and make sure that not a chink showed through the blackout curtains. In school, the windows were criss-crossed with sticky tape so that if the glass was broken, it would not shatter and cut the children. A bomb, dropped at Lakeside, Bakewell, left a huge crater. Some people still remember bombs dropping in other villages and the German aircraft, which flew over Longstone. Only a few years ago, an unexploded bomb was discovered in Stoney Middleton Dale. Martin Simons, who was evacuated to Eyam from Sheffield, remembers the details of the plane that dropped this bomb.

Lady Manners School shared their building with Manchester Grammar School. One week Lady Manners pupils went to school in the morning (including Saturday morning), and Manchester Grammar pupils in the afternoon. The next week, the procedure was reversed. Also at Bakewell a Roman Catholic school from Manchester used the Brigade Hall for their lessons.

Later in the war, at Lady Manners School, there were after school classes in drama, games and make do and mend Mrs. Benn, the language teacher, taught us how to make new garments from old ones often inserting a piece of new material to make a longer skirt, or to widen a garment that was getting; too small. We knitted jumpers and cardigans from odd scraps of wool and we made brooches from wire with wool twined around leaf shapes. Beech nut cases dried and painted bright colours made flowers, as did odd scraps of leather.

Lampshades were made of paper and the new plastic material, but never of human skin, which we were told was happening in Germany. We also made soft toys. I used to use cotton flour bags, which were washed and dried and then dyed a flesh colour, to make the body of a doll. The face was embroidered and kapok was used for the stuffing. Very realistic hair could be bought and all the clothes were made by hand. I once entered a doll I had made in a local craft exhibition held in Bakewell Town Hall. It didn't win a prize but written on the comments card was a back handed compliment, which read, `This doll does not appear to be hand made!' Mrs. Benn's husband was a German who had been interned on the outbreak of war. Their name was really Bender and we were told one morning in assembly that she would now be known as Mrs. Warner Benn.

We were asked at school to make posters for various events including National Savings and Dig for Victory Week. I made a poster showing a spade and two big worms crawling out of the soil. I called it ‘Dig and disturb the worms’. When my brother Frank saw it he told me to draw the faces of Hitler and Mussolini on the worms. I did so and won a prize for my efforts!

We listened to the radio a lot and we had to take the dry batteries to be recharged. Mr. Webster, who had Casey's shop then, would do this for us, using his car battery. Mr. Horn kept a grocery shop on the main street and Pashley's was next to the post office where Mr. Rowland was the postmaster. Mrs. Wager, whose shop was on the corner opposite the cross, made lovely teacakes and buns. Mrs. Fearn had a small haberdashery shop at Ash House and Mr. Dawson kept the butcher's shop. He used to come and help us with the curing of the pigs.

When it became known that an atomic bomb was to be dropped on Hiroshima, everyone at school thought that the end of the world would be the result and we were all rather scared. I remember my father telling us not to be so daft; it was too far away to have any effect on us, but it was still a very frightening thought.

The school plays in those days were nearly always works by Shakespeare, which were set books for the school certificate and higher school certificate: Usually the house plays were scenes from one of his plays. Later, there was a performance of a complete Shakespearian play in the Town Hall in Bakewell. L du Garde Peach, a playwright and author from Foolow, usually adjudicated at the house competition. Sometimes Dickens was the choice as well as Sheridan. I think L du Garde Peach took the opportunity to do a bit of talent spotting for his famous Great Hucklow Players, who performed two or three plays during the winter months at his theatre in Great Hucklow. There were some wonderful productions often billed to take place during the full moon so that people could see their way. There were no streetlights because of the blackout. On more than one occasion, when the lighting failed due to power cuts, the audience lit the stage. Everyone turned on their torches so that the show could go on! Mrs. Edna Raworth who lived at Holme Hall was a leading lady in many of the plays. She was RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) trained and helped us when we gave nativity and passion plays in the church. I learnt a lot about acting from her. Getting to and from Bakewell was a problem because of lack of transport. During the blackout, it was especially difficult after evening performances at the Town Hall. We often had to walk to the cinema or come out early to catch the last bus home.

News of the death of a member of the forces from the village was always a sad time, not only for the family but for the whole village. When the news of my brother Dick's death came through, my mother refused at first to believe it. Much correspondence took place between the family and the war office, as well as with the commanding officer of Dick's battalion and his friends. All of them spoke so well of him and his close friend Sam Allen from army days came to see us when he came home. Many of the men who were not called up for the forces joined the Local Defence Volunteers, the Home Guard, often called the Look, Duck and Vanish Brigade. My brother Cyril was a stretcher-bearer in the Baslow company and he did some courses in first aid. A lot of the training was done on the moors above Baslow. The pretend casualties were invaluable for the training of the volunteer girls who grew proficient at bandaging all types of wounds. There were also the ARP (Air Raid Patrols), who made sure that no lights were showing during air raids and manned the stirrup pumps ready to deal with incendiary bombs. They also traced enemy aircraft. A lot of bombs were stored on the roadside verges up above Sheldon. There was also a searchlight battery positioned at Wheel Farm, Taddington.

We all had to carry our gas masks wherever we went and we were taught that we had to be careful about what we said when strangers were around, in case they were spies! There were posters everywhere, which said `Careless talk costs lives'. All the signposts were taken down throughout the country in case of invasion. Frank remembered that when there was an air raid in progress in Sheffield or elsewhere, steam trains had to wait in local tunnels or in the cutting by Longstone bridge. The glow from the fire gave a good positional indication. The AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) headquarters were in the hut at the bottom of Flaxdale; they kept all their equipment there. My brother Tom, along with the Holmes twins, was a member. Later the girl guides used it.

We joined the Red Cross and had first aid and home nursing classes in the school, usually taken by Mrs. Barnes who lived at the Red House near Monsal Head. We had to pass certificates both for the Red Cross and for the guides. We also went to the vicarage where the vicar's wife, Mrs. Trendell, helped us with training and tests.

Pr-BR

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