- Contributed by听
- Wakefield Libraries & Information Services
- People in story:听
- Mollie Nicholls ( nee Waite); Clarence Ellis
- Location of story:听
- Castleford, West Yorkshire
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A7068837
- Contributed on:听
- 18 November 2005
This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Christine Wadsworth of Wakefield Libraries and Information Services on behalf of Mollie Nicholls ( nee Waite) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.
I was 12 years old when World War 2 was declared. My first recollection of it was being issued with gas masks, and food and clothing being rationed with coupons and ration books. As far as I can remember it was 2 ounces of butter, 2 ounces of cheese, 4 ounces of bacon and sugar, 2 ounces of tea, 2 ounces of lard and 2 ounces of margarine. Fresh eggs when available were put in buckets of isinglass, which is a liquid added to water, and it preserved the eggs for weeks.
Then in April 1941 I remember the air raid over Castleford which was terrifying at the time. Bombs and incendiary bombs seemed to be all around us. I lived with my family and relatives in Richmond Street which is off Smawthorne Lane. Several incendiaries fell around us, one landing on the mineral water works which belonged to Brooks and Gill. This was extinguished by a Royal Navy sailor who happened to be at home on leave with relatives. He volunteered to go into the building to extinguish the flames and he managed to do this by being lifted through one of the windows by men who lived in Richmond and Walden Streets. After the incident it was decided to present the sailor, Clarence Ellis, with a gift of a watch in appreciation of his effort as the building had contained a fair amount of sugar. Another of the incendiary bombs went through the roof of Mrs Kaye鈥檚 and landed in a box room that was full of new bedding which was destroyed. There was a pair of houses badly damaged in Ambler Street, two in Hugh Street and then the bombs carried on to Churchfield Lane where one of them failed to explode in the front garden of one of the houses. The next damage was in Hill Road, then the Croft, Glasshoughton, and the last bomb fell in Farmer Grooom鈥檚 field near Holywell Lane.
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