Living History

When I was sixteen and working for my leaving school exams, I had to do a project for History. I chose to do one about the Home Front in London during World War 2. I read a lot of books for it but also asked my Grandmother to tell about her life during the war. I also asked my Mum, who was a child at the time,and other relatives also told me about their memories.

The books gave the facts about events but it was the personal stories that my relatives told that really brought home to me how hard women's lives were during the War. How difficult it was to make the rations go round. How hard grocery shopping was when you might get to the grocers with your ration books only to find that the shop was sold out.

Also the funny stories such as one my grandmother told me. One day she managed to get some lamb chops from the butcher for my Grandfather's dinner. Her Italian neighbour came in crying, this lady did not speak very good English but my Grandmother managed to understand that the neighbour's son had been allowed out of the internment camp to visit his mother and she had nothing special to give him for his dinner. My Grandmother gave her neighbour the lamb chops and Grandfather had potato cakes for dinner that night. The next day the neighbour came in with a huge dish of spaghetti in a glorious tomato sauce and that was the first time my mum tasted pasta.