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This is a story about Cathleen Pickup she is 79 and lived during the war

Cathleen was 13 when the war broke out in Blackburn, Lancashire. Cathleen was worried about this happening because her mum and dad had told her about World War 1 and she was waiting for the bombs to drop and the Second World War to start. Her father was a soldier in the war and she could remember being upset but she had to live with it because he had to go and it was normal. She didn’t have a big family, she lived with her mum, sister, brother and dad, when he wasn’t in the army. She went to St Peters school in Mill Hill, Cathleen wasn’t evacuated and no evacuees were bought to her school. For her rationing was the worst part of the war because she couldn’t have the luxuries like chocolate. Meat was rationed but they could get as much corned beef as they wanted. Once the war had ended, when the banana ration had ended they got lots of them and no-one knew how to use them.
Cathleen was outside with a soldier when the first bomb dropped in Blackburn, he pushed her to the floor and sat on her to protect her from the explosion, she doesn’t know whether she was frightened of the bomb or the fact that she lived around the corner and her mum could look out the window and catch her with a soldier. Cathleen worked in a munitions factory, she learnt how to put bombs together and how to put them out. She also learnt first aid.
Cathleen had a fiancée called Albert, she only saw him when he was at home because he was in the army. He died in a bomb blast on a beach in Italy, he sent her letters from the army but she wouldn’t specify as to what he wrote in them.
Cathleen can’t understand the big problem about identity cards now because then it was the law to carry them with you, and it had your name and address with a photo of them on it.
She lost 2 really important people to the war, her fiancé Albert and her cousin who drowned at sea.
As she got older she used to go out with her friends and they used to go dancing, one of their favourite bands that they danced to the leader of the band died in the air force.
They had parties in the street when the war had ended she was 18, they ate spam sandwiches and any jelly they could find that people had been saving they made and ate.
Cathleen thinks that the world back then would be more preferable to bring up children back then because drugs were unheard of and there was no worry of muggings and really bad street crime. She thinks that it isn’t safe for children to walk the streets anymore.
This story is written by:
Catherine Dunnett
Amber Parkinson
Melanie Monks
At Witton Park High School Blackburn Lancashire

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