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The war began the day after my sixth birthday. Like so many others from the major cities, I was soon evacuated, along with my baby sister and two brothers. We were fortunate because my mother went too. We were accommodated in a large house in Arbroath and Mum did all the cooking, cleaning and shopping, as well as looking after us. The elderly gentleman who owned the house looked after his large garden, with some help from my older brother, who was just over 12 years old. They grew vegetables and potatoes instead of flowers, because we were told to “Dig for Victory”.

Whenever possible, my father and my older sister would visit us at weekends. At school I was learning to knit and my sister helped me with a scarf I was knitting. When finished, it had a seam sewn for about eight inches from the centre and so became a hood and scarf, which kept me warm as I walked to school on winter mornings for the following few years. We also bought ¾ yard of yellow cotton from Woolworths for one shilling, to make a lap bag to hold wool and pins for knitting

Although Dundee was seldom attacked, in Arbroath we were often aware of enemy aircraft overhead, aiming to drop bombs on the aerodrome just north of the town. My brother used to watch them from a skylight window, in complete darkness of course.

In 1941 we came back to Dundee and, apart from shortages, rationing and part-time schooling, life for me as a child went on quite smoothly.

How Mum managed to feed us all on the rations I don’t know but there was always bread and potatoes quite freely available and I don’t remember ever going hungry. Mum saved her sugar ration and stopped taking sugar in tea, so sometimes we had home-made cakes and in the soft fruit season she would make jam. Dried egg powder was another useful item and Mum became very skilful in its use for scrambled eggs and omelettes, especially if one fresh egg could be spared to add to the mixture. If someone got a tiny piece of eggshell in the omelette, it was proved to be the “real Mackay”.

Clothing too was a problem with a growing family, but again the radio exalted us to “Make do and Mend” and we did. We wore “hand me downs”, I remember being quite put out at being given my brother’s winter overcoat to wear. Summer time was better - no socks or stockings needed for us children. Ladies often painted their legs and drew a line down each to look like seamed stockings. Dresses could be made from lightweight curtain material, which for some reason was obtainable without coupons. Some designs were more suitable than others but we wore them anyway! Mums were wonderful.

Mary Davidson via Dundee Central Library

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