Thriftlady's wartime experiment

My husband was a little boy during the war and remembers it well. His Dad grew all their veg and fuit and he says he never went hungry. He lived in Ely near Cambridge and they were a very big family (8 children) so had a large house which was rented. Hardly any one owned their own house then.

One night they had a bombing raid (East Anglia had lots of raids because of all the air fields) and the farm at the back of their house was hit. All the farmers herd of cows was killed and the bull mortally wounded. He roared round the field all night until the stock man came to shoot him in the morning. The farmer hanged himself the next day as he had lost every thing and there was no compensation in those days.

His sister was in the land army until she got TB (which was common) and had to go away to a sanatorium. She was ill on and off for 9 years. She is over 80 now though.

His oldest brother was a Japanese POW and when he came home his wife had had a baby by some one else as he had been missing presumed dead for nearly 4 years. Very sad, they got back together but it didn’t last. He is dead now but we still see quite a lot of one of his sons who still lives near us.

I think the was must have been very hard for many people. Not just the ones who got bombed out or lost sons, husbands and fathers but ordinary people who had to carry on.

Sairy-my Dad lived near Ely during the war too-although there were only 7 children in their family! His father kept rabbits and a goat for milk and they grew all their own veg.

My mother grew up in the same village. She was only 5 when the war started so couldn't really remember what life was like before . She remembers going to pick rosehips for rosehip syrup with her class at school and having to carry a bucket full of pig's stomach etc round to her grandmother's when they had a pig killed.

I agree, Churchmouse and it's fascinating to hear people's stories, a real bit of social history. It's too easy for us to forget what people went through.

What an interesting thread and a great experiment.

According to my mum lots of people had allotments and theirs was at the back of their house; they kept two pigs (one for them and one for the government), chickens (for eggs and they had plenty), rabbits (my grandad showed them before the war and after) and there were plenty of veg and fruit bushes.

I don't think they ever went hungry like some people did but money was in very short supply. Mum's family were poor in possessions but rich in love and cuddles.

I know she used to say her Dad bought Camp coffee on rations. I've never heard of it has anyone else??

Oh yes Camp coffee, I think you can still get that http://www.wisechoiceuk.com/ProdImages/campcoffee.jpg the bottle looked similar to that. I know several years ago you could get it as I got sent to a shop for it for my Grandma. I think it tastes awful!