General Chat

Not everybody submitted to trying to live and work on next to nothing, far from it. For those who could afford it there was a thriving black market and restaurants were open for business.

You could eat as much as you liked of food grown in your own land ( "Dig for Victory" ) and in the countryside people ( other than farmers ) often had room for pigs, chickens and so on. Farmers themselves were quite tightly controlled and had to be careful.

The RAF and Royal Navy were not rationed to any great extent and those with rellies and friends serving with the RN/RAF tended to do ok.

With the arrival of the Americans in numbers from 1943 the rationing system started to break down in southern England and the USAAF bases in eastern England. The Americans were a prime source of women's stockings lol.

Those without any way of accessing extra food and such tended to be very resentful and were more than ready to denounce their neighbours. The rancour over this went on long after the war.

The rationing actually got worse after the May 8 1945. The reason for that was the Germans had embarked on a scorched earth retreat leaving coal mines and railways in ruins and the peoples of France, Benelux and Germany starving and freezing. Atlee's government sent coal, railway locomotives, trucks and food to help prevent an utter disaster. Thanks to bitter winters, especially 1946/7, it was a long time before most people could eat and drink whatever they wanted or keep warm.

Thanks to current business policy of keeping stocks and reserves to a minimum the UK has barely 3 months food stocks even with draconian rationing and somewhat less for energy - the lowest of all EU states. So just keep your fingers crossed that we don't get caught in some unexpected event with our trousers down.

Lynda

Posting this film to bump up this very interesting thread. Wonderful memories from members past and present well worth reading :-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiW_yYOm2e8&feature=youtu.be


Jo

Pat that sounds really nice, might give that one a try :-D I'm amazed at just what people substituted one food for another with, sometimes it probably even tasted better than what it was originally.
Maybe some more people will add other foods, which changed ingrediants, because of shortages of that food?

If we were getting low on cheese and mum wanted us to have cheese on toast she used to boil up a potato and mash it but instead of butter add the cheese to it. She then spread that across the toast and put it under the grill. I am sure this came from the war years.

When OH was working away from home in winter and I didn't want to cook a full meal and I had a small potato, I would do this for myself, always loved it.

Pat :-D

I've just noticed that an_angel_on_a_mission, had bumped this up for new members to see :-)

I like looking through the thread every so often , there always seems to be bits I've missed, when it first started lots of members added to it, I assume that there aren't so many members now who are interested, shame because every story is interesting.

That could be why the prayer was said Joeva, I was born about the same time as you, and I suppose there were lots of references to the war that just went over our heads, even though I knew about the war, the top of our Street had been bombed, and I played on the ruins, I expect our parents were glad to move forward, and keep the horrors from there children, it must have been awful waiting to see if a bomb would be dropped, can't imagine it, don't want to either :-(

Great reading this thread for the first time today. I was only 4 when the war ended but was already at nursery school. I have never forgotten the prayer we used to say at the end of the afternoon and it is only in later years that I understood the significance of it.

'Lord keep us safe this night secure from all our fears, may angels guard us while we sleep, till morning light appears.'

I believe now that this was said because of all the night-time bombings over London that had occurred previously. :-(

Nudge for the newbies :)

Thought this one could do with resurrecting for those who have joined since. Lots of first hand information.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading the thread again Brenda, there are many memories on here, and the posters who are no longer with us, it's good to see that there memories live on.

I'm hoping to go the Imperial War museum this week, that should be good, taking the Grandsons, one has been, but not the smaller one, will be interesting to see what he thinks of it.

Times have certainly changed haven't they, some for the best, but some not so.

Spent some time last night reading this thread again.My family had been staying over Easter and after they went was feeling a bit lonely as I am on my own now.
It brought back memories of Deanna and Len etc..plus all the war memories.
I had only been saying earlier to my grandson,who is now a father himself,that when the boys went in the army,or did National service they were taught how to iron,polish shoes,and keep very smart....things are so much more casual these days...in fact I don't remember my mother going out without a nice hat and my dad a trilby which he would raise as a greeting...and the man always walked on the outside of the pavement,opened doors etc...how times have changed!

Michelle, I've heard lots of stories about not using a shelter because people said they'd rather die at home, than in the shelter.

I have to say that being an early 50's baby, the nasty part of the war wasn't often mentioned, well not in my earshot anyway, my Mum, Dad, and grandparents would tell happy stories of the war, I suppose that was a way of getting on with life.

During the war, my nan was fairly young so her memories were pretty vague. The only thing she remembered clearly was her father making sure the family were safe with blankets, warm clothing, tea and sandwiches in the shelter during the air raids before he went back to the house to bed, all during the war he never used the shelter....he always said if he was going to die it would be in the comfort of his own bed not in a damp hole in the ground.

Loving the stories, makes me understand why my grandad's mom grew her own fruit and veg...strawberries, apple and pear trees, runner beans, parsnips, spuds, cabbages and cauliflower. Used to love going to hers for dinner as her veg tasted way better than shop brought produce. Used to help pick strawberries and was given a small basket to take back home with me :-)

I have really enjoyed reading all this thread and Michelles..... :-D

A bump up for Michelle to read, and anyone else of course:)

Good to see this back. We had fun writing these, didnt we!

I deleted most of my threads before I became a non paying member, but didn't want to delete this thread as there are so many memories on here.

So, now I'm a paying member for a while, who paid £14.95 for the privilege !
I thought I'd give it an airing :) I love to hear memories of the war years and the years just after, when life was so different.

Any more stories will be gratefully received by me, and I'm sure by anyone else who enjoys reading them :-)

nudge for new readers :)

Lynda,

Any news on your Uncle

Did you ever ask him ???

I knew it was there but I don't recall reading it. Thanks for reminding me :)