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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 Elsie Cartwright, and has been added to the site with the author’s permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

SOME WARTIME MEMORIES — Part 2
By
Elsie Cartwright (nee Marsland)

ROADS AND TRANSPORT
Transport was also very limited. Very few private cars on the road as there was no petrol except for essential services. Public transport, trams, trains and buses had to have windows painted to prevent any light from shining outside.
The black-out was another thing we coped with without even feeling afraid of going out alone, but a torch was a good companion, although the glass had to be covered with just a slit to show the way. The torches nearly al1 used No.8 batteries, which were often difficult to obtain. We very soon appreciated a bright moon-lit night, which made some difference, when there were no street lights.

ENTERTAINMENT
Our main entertainment, apart from a busy church social life, was the cinema. The local cinemas usually showed one film Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with a change of film for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the cost would be about 1/3d. [6p], and we could listen to the radio for the latest songs.

We had several night-time air raids nearby, one of which caused one of our windows to be blown out. At first we went under the stairs to be safe, but later Mother insisted we went into the public shelter which had been built to accommodate some of the neighbourhood. I still have a small piece of shrapnel found in our back garden, which we think may have come from a shell.

Although we could listen to the news on the radio, we were unaware of much that was happening around the world, and in the war zones. Newspapers were just one double page, due to the shortage of paper, and the many restrictions on news reports.

As an only child, and my father too old to be conscripted; I had no immediate family in the Forces, but some cousins were in the Army, Air Force and Navy.

DAD DIED
My father had always been an extremely competent bell ringer and on the team at Oldham Parish Church for a long number of years (a fellow ringer and good friend of his, was Vernon Sykes, father of comedian Eric). He missed it terribly when all church bells were silenced at the beginning of the war, only to be rung as a warning if there was a danger of imminent invasion by the enemy.

He kept in touch with many of his bell-ringing friends, and it was after attending the funeral of one of these friends in 1943 that he became ill. He was taken into hospital in the March and died on the 22nd April, which was Maundy Thursday.

One of the last things he knew about just before he died was that church bells may be rung again, as signs of enemy invasion had diminished. I had to `borrow' some clothing coupons in order to buy a new grey coat and black dress for the funeral. Because Mother was upset and not as used to the telephone as I was, I made many of the funeral arrangements. It was Easter weekend and the funeral was to be on the Tuesday; I had the job of going to the telephone kiosk to dictate telegrams to send to close relatives about the funeral time, as very few homes had telephones then.

One of Dad's friends had been cremated, which was quite unusual, and apparently he said that he wanted to be cremated when the time came. So on the Easter Tuesday 1943 we went to Rochdale Crematorium and his ashes were buried later in Roytan Cemetery. I still have the bill for the funeral, which had a total cost of £33.9s,6d; this included £8.8s,0d. for ‘hearse and 3 motors from Oldham to Rochdale Crematorium’, £1.18.6d for teas (12 of us?) at the Co-op restaurant on King Street; 6s.0d. for an obituary notice in the Oldham Chronicle.

VICTORY!!
Eventually, VE-day [Victory in Europe) came and we walked down to see the big building of the Ferranti works with coloured lights shining out brightly. Bonfires were lit to celebrate, and the local park put on some special family events the following day. May 7th and 8th 1945 were declared public holidays.

As a Guide, I joined in the Victory Parade around the town and lots of Victory Events were held. In August VJ day was celebrated (Victory in Japan] but things were not back to normal for a long number of years.

POST-WAR PROBLEMS
It was generally thought that things would soon be back to normal after the war, but as I said, they were not normal for a long, long time. When we married in 1947, we had to beg ingredients for our wedding cake to be made. I went into literally dozens of shoe-shops before I managed to get a pair of white shoes to fit. We were allowed some 'dockets' to purchase utility furniture - very plain wooden items, and we bought a smaller wardrobe so that we could also buy a fireside chair.

Our first son was born in 1950, and he had a ration book, a blue one for children. One day I brought him into the house whilst he was still asleep, and when I went to check, he was happily sitting up, tearing his ration book to shreds, which I had left in the pram, I had to take the pieces to the Food Office, and pay one shilling for a replacement book.

It must have been the winter of 1950-51, when there was a severe shortage of coal, and it was said that if we went to the Gasworks, we could obtain seven pennyworth of coke each. So off we trundled, Mother, me and baby, with pram and pushchair, went there in order to get 3 bags of coke (probably the size of present day black bin bags) for 21 old pence.

Our second son was born in 1954, and even then, he had to have a ration book, but this was not to last much longer, as all rationing came to an end sometime during 1954.

OUR PARENTS AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Lastly, I was asked to mention memories of our parents' experiences in the First World War.

My mother, born in 1887, often talked about it when I was quite young, and, say, when I was a 6 year old in 1934, her war had only been over for 16 years, but to a 6 year old this was a million years ago!

Mother was the youngest of a large family. One of her brothers, John, had been left a widower with two young boys, about 6 and 8. John felt compelled to `join up' and as he left to go into the 1ST Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, he asked my mother to look after the boys until he came back. Her mother had died in January 1914, so I expect my mother was the one left in the family home. She used to say that any family with a member in the Army dreaded the 'Brown Envelope', which brought bad news. John never came back - he was killed on the 22nd July 1918, on the Somme, at the end of the battle there. The “brown envelope” contained some papers which had been in his pocket, and bore a bullet hole.

She was told at the time that it was a stray bullet which killed him. She had a silk bookmark, printed with his name and number and the date on which he was killed, which I have always kept. With this number, we can now trace, via the Internet, the exact battle, war grave number and cemetery where he is buried. The Information on the citation reads that he was killed on the 20th July 1916.

Mother brought up these boys until they were able to earn their own living; she did a full time job in the cotton mill, cleaned at her aunt's chip shop on Sunday mornings to earn some extra and received five shillings per week (25p) to help to keep the boys because they were orphans! Sam has quite a different story about his father: he was in the Army in the First World War, and Sam doesn't remember him talking about his experiences at all.
But - Sam never remembered him without a cough, as he had been 'gassed' whilst in France. He had a heavy job as a core maker in a foundry, which didn't help. When he died in January 1953, it was during one of the very heavy thick smogs, which had lasted for about a fortnight, and took its toll on his already affected lungs.

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