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My family was on holiday at St. Anne’s on Sea at the outbreak of war on Sunday 3rd Sept. but my parents decided to return home to Hinckley in Leicestershire two days later. When we went to the railway station there were crowds of children, many crying in the general air of confusion. These were evacuees from Liverpool. In the first days the Blackout was a novelty and we went out to see if we could see a crack of light from anyone’s window at night. Until we had proper blinds and shutters made for the windows we had thick velvet curtains from a bedroom, in the kitchen. Soon we had net glued to the inside of the windows so that glass could not come in and all the breakable ornaments & pictures in the house were packed into tea chests and put away until there was no fear of air raids. We had to take gas masks with us wherever we went. . At school we had Air raid practice and several times actual warnings. The teachers I liked were the ones who read stories or played games in the shelter; not the one who made us recite our tables.
As we were in a ‘safe’ area evacuees came to live in the town, especially from Birmingham and Coventry. One Saturday in the shoe shop a young lady beside Mother apologised to the sales assistant for her laddered stockings and explained that she had been on the night shift at the munitions factory in Coventry and when she went home to breakfast the house had been destroyed by a bomb. She had only what she was wearing and had come to relatives in Hinckley. Everyday life seemed dominated by coupons (for clothes & extra treat food) and rationing of basic food. We were lucky because we had vegetables & apples in our garden. Bread was unrationed but was a coarse ‘National Loaf’. Oranges were a special ration at Christmas and bananas were occasionally on green ration books (for children under 5). I had a friend whose family had a German Jewish boy living with them from 1938. They had sponsored him when it was still possible to rescue children from Germany. I did not realise how this offer of a home had saved Eric. He arrived aged 8 knowing no English & heard nothing of his family until after the war. His mother had survived and he returned to live with her.
The celebrations in May for VE day were exciting because we had a Street party on the wide grass verge in front of our house. Mothers produced jellies and cakes from precious hoarded food and everyone who had a Union Jock or anything red, white & blue hung it from the window. At night there was a bonfire and an effigy of Hitler was burned and we could have lights in the dark with no fear of air raids. In August we went to Girl Guide camp in Charnwood forest. The first opportunity we had to go to camp now the war in Europe was over. On the last morning two girls went to the farm for the milk and came back running and shouting ’The war’s over’. It was a total shock to us. With no wireless we had heard no news and could not understand it. On the way home in the old lorry we saw flogs flying from houses in Coalville and knew it must be true. There was anxiety in the joy because of the Atom bomb which was such a terrifying weapon. Again we had a Street party and later a Bonfire with a Japanese effigy. It was years before rationing ended and all the shortages ended.

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