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I will always remember that first Sunday in September 1939. War was declared on Germany. Mum and I were peeling potatoes for Sunday lunch. Neville Chamberlain announced that we were at war with Germany. Tears were streaming down our faces. I was just 14 years old. Mum was a girl in the First World War so she knew all about rationing and shortages that were to come.

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Guard:
Dad joined the home guard along with other old soldiers in the area. The paraded with armbands and brush stales to start with, later uniforms and guns were issued.

Rations:
We then got our ration books. Sugar was the bone of contention in our house. My mum was an astute lady and handed us a cocoa tin each with our own ration for which we were responsible. We did have bread this was called the national loaf, it wasn’t white or brown but somewhere in between.

Mum made the first butter spread mixing dried milk with it, it went a long way. Dad also started to keep hens so we didn’t go short of eggs and a chicken now and then for the pot.

Bombs:
A few bombs were dropped in Oldham. The worst one was near Alexandra Park. It took down a row of houses and some people died.

One was dropped on a mill at the bottom of Blackshaw Lane but no one was working as it was night time. They were looking for the shadow factory at Heyside. They also dropped one on the Royton Golf club.

We had a large Anderson Shelter. Dad put wooden boards on the floor and wooden bunks on each side.

We couldn’t go out without our gas masks. We slung them over our shoulder, probably an inspiration for the shoulder bag.

Blackout:
All the windows had to be covered with thick black material. We had no street lights and street names had to be taken down, so that if the Germans landed they wouldn’t know the part of the country there were in. Car headlights had to be dipped so we relied on the moon and torches to find our way about.

Fuel:
Fuel was in short supply and one severe winter fuel ran out and factories were closed.

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