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Location.
I lived in a small village called Ottringham in rural East Riding of Yorkshire. It is 12 miles east of Hull and 8 miles from the east coast. Hull had been a target for Zeppelin raids during World War I and was expected to be a target again mainly because of its position and importance of the docks. However, nobody was expecting that our small village would be chosen to play a very important and secret role in broadcasting and the transmission of propaganda.
Early memories.
I was nearly four years old when war began and one of my earliest memories is being fitted with a Mickey Mouse gas mask. As I grew older thhis was replaced by a normal black one. We had to carry these whenever we left home. They fitted into a square cardboard box with cord attached to fit over your head and shoulder. We had to puts strips of gummed brown paper in the form of an "X" on every window pane, make blackout curtains to prevent lights showing and have a full sized external wooden shutter to fit over the largest downstairs window. We lived down a lane and one of the neighbours built and Anderson shelter in the field at the back of his house. I can remember an old lady called "Granny Hodgson" who lived in the lane. She always insisted on sitting nearest the door in the shelter. She always said she wanted to be first out if a bomb dropped. At the far end of the lane the voluntary auxilliary fire service kept the fire pump and other equipment in the outbuildings of a large old house. They used to practice their drill on Sunday mornings and sometimes had competitions with teams from other villages. Other volunteers formed a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard unit led by a local farmer.
Rationing and Make-do-and-mend.
Almost everything was rationed. Food and clothing especially and we had ration books with coupons inside. Staple foods like meat, sugar and fats had to be stretched a long way. My mother, along with many others, was very capable at making a satisfying meal from very little. We were fortunate to live in the countryside with a large garden. We always grew vegetables and soft fruit and we were able to keep a few chickens. There were no fridges or freezers so other ways of storing produce were used. Some eggs were preserved in white enamel buckets in a greyish/white jelly to be used in winter when the hens stopped laying. Soft fruit was either made into jam or bottled and some of the vegetables like runner beans were also bottled. In late summer we would pick blackberries and anything else that was edible from the hedgerows. After harvest we would go into the fields to glean any wheat ears we could find to feed the chickens. Nothing was wasted and people were willing to share and exchange items of food. Vegetable peelings, for instance, were either boiled to mix with meal or given raw to the chickens and neighbouring pigs. We gathered wood from anywhere we could to store for winter fuel. We would go from school to gather rose-hips to be made into Rose-Hip Syrup. This was a valuable source of vitamin C for children and a good alternative to official orange juice. We also gathered nettles which were very difficult for small hands to pick and put into sacks.
Keeping pigs was strictly controlled. Every keeper and pig had to be registered and accounted for when it was collected for slaughter. However, our village had a butcher with a slaughter house behind his shop. The local policeman lived two miles away and travelled by bicycle. This enabled quite a few pigs to be reared secretly. The difficulty was getting the pig to the butcher as it had to be walked in the dark and pigs can make a lot of noise. Somebody had to look out for the local bobby so the whole operation was a great team effort. I don't think anybody was ever caught/ When the pig meat arrived back from the butcher all the neighbours helped to make sausages, pies, brawn etc. Sides of bacon were salted and hung up in pantries and every bit of meat was used. Everything was shared out each time a "secret" pig was killed.
Clothing coupons were very limited so a lot of home knitting and sewing went on. Adult clothes were cut down to make clothes for children, the wool from worn oroutgrown hand knitted garments was undone, washed and re-used for something else. We were taught to knit at a very young age at school and I can remember knitting squares which were then sewn together to make blankets for the troops. Most ladies wore a hat in those days and some compromises to save coupons were necessary. Some used to buy a workman's flat cap (fewer coupons), take off the peak and dress up the remainder with ribbon and a brooch to make an attractive beret. Even old bicycle tyres were cut up and used to repair shoes. Everything that could be recycled was put to good use.
The bombing of Hull.
Hull was a very important port for ship repairs, food and supplies to Russia. The bombing took place over a four year period but the worst was in 1941 and 1942. East Hull was particularly badly hit. In May 1941, even though we lived twelve miles away, I remember seeing Hull burning, such was the devastation. I also remember seeing hundreds of people the next day walking into our village with prams, carts and anything else they could use to carry what possesions they had left. All the villages along the route from east Hull were helping to look after these desperate bombed-out people. I remember giving up my bed for a lady and her small daughter who was about three years old. Although it was just for one night, the lady left me a gift of a new face flannel. What kindness when she had so little and must have been in such distress. I did not see them again and often wondered what happened to them. Many of the men slept in the fields, they were so exhausted. The following summer Hull was again hit by massive bombing. The undortunate thing was, nobody else in the country was aware of the suffering in Hull. We heard on the news about London, Coventry, Liverpool, Birmingham and other big cities, but there was an embargo on mentioning the name of Hull. It was referred to as "a North East Coast Town". It was later recorded that, proportionately, Hull had been the most heavily bombed city outside London and more than 90% of its dwellings had been wither destroyed or damaged by bombing.
The arrival of the Army.
There was a lot of activity started in Ottringham in 1942. The Army arrived to set up four anti-aircraft camps at the eastern end of the village. Part of a large field had been designated for a ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ transmission station and the army was there to protect it. The soldiers were billeted in the church hall and the village institute. I particularly remember the "King's Own Yorshire Light Infantry" regiment, fondly known as the KOYLIES. When it was time for them to be replaced, they put on a farewell parade for the villagers. The same was done by one of the Scottish regiments, but they had a pipe band to march to and the locals greatly appreciated the gesture.
Building the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Station.
In 1942, workmen from all parts of the country descended on Ottringham to build the station. Aerial masts 500 feet high were erected. Eight were planned but one fell down during construction so the six that were already in position were left and no more were put up. Most of the workmen were accommodated in the village and stayed for a few months before being replaced by others. I remember two Londoners who stayed with us. One was a bricklayer named Jim and the other an electgrician named Alec. Cigarettes were in short supply but there was a small sweets and tobacconist's shop in the village main street. It was owned and run by a brother and sister, Mr and Miss Wright, who were quite old. Neither was married and they were very old fashioned in their ways and dress. Jim and Alec would go into the shop to try to buy cigarettes. They would ask "have you any...?" "No" came the reply before the question was finished. However, Mr Wright was also a highly skilled tailor and one day, Jim and Alec each asked if he would make them a suit. The suits were duly made and after that, Jim and Alec could always buy cigarettes in the shop. When the station was completed in 1943, the troops used to hold film shows in the station canteen and, under strict security, the local villagers were invited. They also provided refreshments which were always very welcome. We didn't know what was really going on but occasionally, when frequencies were switched, the propaganda transmissions in a foreign language would come booming out of our home wirelesses (radios). We had to switch off quickly as we could not here the programmes we were listening to. After the war, we learned how important the Ottringham station had been with its transmissions reaching right into the heart of occupied Europe. One of our neighbours, Grace, hadtrained at a Hull Commercial College and she went to work for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in 1943. She met her future husband there and her story follows.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ OTTRINGHAM - known as O.S.E.5 - as told by Grace Magee (nee Medforth).
I started work there in 1943 until 1948. The station was changing channels and staff being transferred to other stations. Aubrey, my late husband, was transferred to Penrith in Cumbria and later to a television station in Scotland.
There was a large office block, one office for the Engineer in Charge, one for the assistant Engineer in Charge and the general office where I worked with the office manager. There was also a store cupboard, a very well equipped kitchen with a cook and an assistant and a nice canteen supplying meals for the staff.
There was a large power house and generating system with three diesel generator sets in case of power failure. If I had to go across to it, it was very, very, noisy. Aerial masts 500 feet high towered high up in the sky. Four transmitters with output power of 800 Kilowatts operated on both long and medium wave. Wavelengths were often changed as they coincided with other channels including a German station built to boost the voice of Lord Haw-Haw and marine distress signals.
As well as my typing duties etc., I manned the switchboard which was the old GPO type, plug-in with leads. We had direct lines to our Head Office, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ London, the Valve Section supply centre at Motspur Park, Leeds and nearly all the main ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ centres. I felt quite important being able to contact all these places which at that time I had never visited.
Engineers manned the Control Room desks which were a maze of dials, switches etc., monitoring all the programmes, the timing of which was most important. Channels had to be switched at precise times. The station had a Gate House with guards on duty and issued passes had to be shown before entering.
A ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Club was provided in Queen Street, Withernsea with games rooms, pool table etc. A ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ minibus used to take the engineers to Ottringham for the day, evening and night shifts as most of the staff lodged or lived in Withernsea.
Anti-aircraft camps surrounded the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ compound for protection against enemy aircraft as this was the most important propaganda and powerful station.
It is amazing that such a small remote village like Ottringham was chosen for such a powerful and important transmitter station boosting a wartime propaganda signal into North Germany and Berlin to help the war effort. It then continued to radiate programmes for the European Service until 1953. Well done Ottringham!
Conclusion.
I suppose we were luckier than many but would not wish the experience on present or future generations. I still think of those soldiers who passed through our little village and hope they all remained safe. I also hope that all our wartime visitors have kind memories of Ottringham and its people. The only positive things from the war that I would wish for are, the sharing and selflessness in helping each other and the great community spirit which were all there in abundance throughout the land.

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