大象传媒

Peter Walker is 77 and lives in Endon. He was born in 1937 and lived in Sneyd Green throughout his childhood.

He is married to Ann Walker, and they have two children: David who is 52 and Joanne who is 49.

Peter and Ann were 8-years-old when the war in Europe was declared over. They didn鈥檛 feel deprived or under any real threat during their childhood.

Peter remembers not having toys and sweets throughout the war. However, being born in 1937, he had never really known anything different, so living through the war was normality.

When VE Day was announced he assumed that all of the things that they hadn鈥檛 had, such as sweets, would return and rationing would just end.

Living in Milton Road, Sneyd Green, he remembers that there was a huge barn near to his house where a party took place in. Luxuries of any sort had been in short supply, but all of the people who were at this party had saved up ration coupons and there were sweets, chocolate, jelly and a whole manner of things that they hadn鈥檛 had during the war. They also played games and other activities.

Ann remembers that everyone in her street clubbed together and a party was held across the road from her in a semi-detached house.

There was a long table down the side of the house and planks of wood to sit on. They had jelly, which was a great treat for them! They also had sandwiches and fizzy drinks.

On that day, Ann wore a silk dress that her mother had made which was a cream colour. It was a very exciting time. She had never been to a party before.

Her street got bombed during the war. Luckily the bomb didn鈥檛 explode. The road was clay as they didn鈥檛 surface the road before the war and so when the bomb landed it got stuck in the ground.

VE Day was a big change for everyone and also a huge relief. Almost everyone in the local community had relatives fighting in the war and many had relatives who were lost.

Bread, that wasn鈥檛 rationed during the war, was in such demand that it had to be rationed after the war. That was a memory that stuck with Peter.

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