蜜芽传媒

I lived in Connaught Road, Hove and went to Ellen Street Junior School then eventually onto East Hove Senior School for girls in Davigdor Road Hove

I was six years old when the war was declared. My mother was a housekeeper to a Bookmaker and his wife. We lived in the house, we had our own rooms. I was allowed the run of the house but not the offices or their private rooms. Then the war came, my mother had to work in the munitions factory,

We moved to a house large enough for my grandfather, my aunt as well as another aunt with her young daughter along with my mother and me.
My mother worked in the factory making bullet, she worked shifts, so my aunt looked after my cousin and I. The other aunt worked in the junior school which was over the road from where we lived. They made Barrage balloons and Camouflage, when she was in the camouflage department all the girls came out green from head to foot at the end of the day.

Mum used to smell of slurry because she worked on the drills which made the holes in the bullets, the drills had to have water running over the tip to stop them overheating. They all wore clogs on their feet so that the filings didn鈥檛 get in their feet. At one time she drilled through her finger, the girls were all supposed to wear turbans on their heads but a few didn鈥檛 and there were a few accidents when their hair went into the machines.

As the factory was opposite to Brighton Station the German pilots opened fire or dropped bombs on the station on their way to London. The factory girls just turned the wireless up and sang along to Gracey Fields or Vera Lyn.

There were Ack-Ack guns on the roof of the Naval Station at the Sea font. We used to see the German Planes coming over the sea. Then the Spitfires would go out to stop them. There would be loads of dog fights in the sky. We were not allowed on the beaches because the sea was mined and there were barbed wire rolls all along. You could see the mines bobbing up and down on the sea, sometimes they would hit a groin and blow up.

The King Alfred in Hove was a large building which was taken over by the Royal navy. On Sunday mornings we used to walk down to listen to the Sunday Service, there were a few hundred Naval Officers, Sailors and Wrens all singing the hymns, it was spectacular to watch.

Both of the Brighton Piers were closed, the tanks would go down Sackville Road and Hove Street then on to the Docks at Portsdale to board the boats ready to go to war. After they had gone the roads had to be re-tarmaced and this happened on a weekly basis.

We had a few planes shot down over Brighton and Hove, some near to our home, which resulted in the occupants of the houses being killed, including young children. There was an air raid one day when I was coming home from school, the next thing we knew was a German plane opened fire all the way up the road, A very kind man grabbed me and threw me to the ground it was very frightening. My grandfather and little cousin were also out and they took shelter in a shop. The Gas Ohmmeters were shot at and hit, however because they were so low at the time they did not explode.
The one thing as a child I found very frightening was passing Hove hospital where the wounded soldiers were being treated. They were put out on the balconies and they used to wave to us and call out, they were typically very heavily bandaged, especially around the head.

St Dustan鈥檚 at Rottingdean took all of the blind people, there were special subways to the promenade so that they can be taken out for walks, and it is still there today. Of course the 鈥楧oodle bombs鈥� were the worst things, they came over at night, you would think; what鈥檚 that strange noise and see this lit up plane which was pilot less and looked like a rocket. When the engine stopped you counted to three and then it came down with a big bang!

All the buses and trains were blacked out and the streets had no lighting. A torch was your best friend but muted. You had tape over the windows in a crisscross to stop them shattering. All windows had blackout curtains, the 蜜芽传媒 Guard would bang on the door if there was a sliver of light showing.
As soon as the sirens went, which sounded exactly the same as the Broad moor Sirens, you rushed to shelters; some people had Anderson shelters dug out in their gardens. We had a Morrison shelter which doubled as a kitchen table, it was huge and it filled our already very large kitchen. It was made of cast iron with very strong wire netting sides. There were seven of us to fit in there, including the dog and cat. The idea was if the house came down we would be safe!

My cousin from London was evacuated to us for the duration of the war. We had mostly retired or war wounded teachers in the schools, but most of our lessons took place in large underground shelters. In spite of that I did pass my 鈥楨leven Plus鈥� and could have gone to the Grammar school but my mother could not afford that.

Everyone had ration books, identity cards, petrol coupons and clothing coupons. With the ration books you were given, (I may not be very accurate with the amounts);
庐 2oz butter, that was weighed and patted
庐 2oz cheese
庐 4oz margarine
庐 2 slices of bacon
庐 2 oz lard
庐 2 eggs
庐 2oz tea
庐 陆 pint of milk
庐 4oz sugar
庐 2oz sweets or chocolate
All the above was a weekly allowance for each item.

I was sent each week with the books to the Co-Op to collect the rations for my Mother, my Aunt, my granddad and other Aunt. There were those wire tracks running across the shop which the assistant would put the money and coupons in to run overhead to the office that would then send back your change and receipt.

I was always so pleased mine went across three times for each part of the family. I think flour and other things were on a first come first serve basis. I had to go back three times to get each bag of shopping. We all queued for fish and meat coupons, and if you were lucky there were some vegetables as well. Powdered egg and milk powder were not rationed but scarce.

The clothing coupons had to be saved to get shoes or clothes. You could buy good second hand clothes in the town hall. Mum got a new grey blanket which she got a dressmaker to make me a coat and Tamashanta and a bag I thought was wonderful.

On Saturday I went to the children鈥檚 pictures for sixpence, half of my pocket money. When I came out I had to queue for meat pies, when you get inside the shop you could watch each stage of them being made, the smell was delicious. I also had to get brickets which were made of coal dust and bundles of wood. O could only carry two at a time they were so heavy so that meant several journeys. We were allowed coal, but not much.
My uncle was in the Air-force, he was on the beaches at Dunkirk, he never said very much about it. He was a London to Brighton runner and walker before the war and he won many times with the Brighton Harriers. He always said it stood him in good stead for the war, his name was Leslie Kent, he knew Sebastian Cole after the war when he started running again.

We were so excited when VE Day came, there was a street party in the main shopping street (George Street), all the shops closed, there were long tables and bunting, everyone took food and wore silly hats. All the children were given a bakelite beaker with VE Day painted on it.

The whole war was quiet scary for us children, you never knew if Mum would come home each day, but everyone looked out for each other. It was a happy childhood, there were about twenty children in our road and we all played together. We played with skipping ropes, hoops, and roller skates. We bounced tennis balls against the school opposite, and we had Yo-Yos and diabolise.

My mum used to take her list to the greengrocers on her way to work and a shopping bag to collect it in on the way home. The shop keeper would put Bananas, Oranges or soft fruit hidden under the vegetables for his regular customers. If there was a hint of treats there would be a riot, there wasn鈥檛 a lack of money to buy.

The only things children could get besides the 2oz of sweets was liquorice, chocolate powder, sherbet dabs, lemonade powder, Spanish wood, gob stoppers, and chewing gum, bubble gum and black jacks.

A little old man used to cycle round the roads calling out. 鈥淪top me and buy on鈥�. He had ice cream and three cornered lollies in a sort of fridge on the front t of his bike. He was the Wall鈥檚 Ice cream man.
There were big bins in every street which you put your left over food in. The land army girls said you found all sorts in there.

Well that鈥檚 about it all for World War Two, my mother lived through World War One as well, but that鈥檚 another story.

Paula Tingley (formerly Stone)

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