General Chat

What an excellent thread, this is the sort of thing the newer generations really need to know.


Here's a bump from an Aussie :)

I think a lot of people kept there ration books Linda, My Mum kept hers too.

I was born 5 years after the war so do not remember rationing although I know they did not do away with it till the 50s. When my mil died sil was going through her bag and she found her ration book that was in 1990

Thanks for answering me Jean, I remember asking my Mum when I was small, did people know about the concentration camps before the war ended, and she said she didn't, I did think at the time, how could people not know, but I suppose there are many atrocities going on the world now, that we don't know about, and some that we do know about we, as individuals can do nothing about, very sad isn't it?

There were people who knew about them, but the general public knew very little unless they were Jewish. There had been concentration camps in other wars, so the more educated must have guessed.
One of my more vivid memories is the pictures of dead and dying in the camps when they were liberated. I later worked with a Dr who had been in the camps at that time, trying to save people, also knew a lady who as a young woman had been an ambulance driver who ferried victims out of the camps.

I was having a conversation today about the war, and I asked the question, did people in Britain know about the concentreation camps, before the war ended, or were they something that the "ordinary people" knew nothing about until the war ended, anyone know?

My 2 granddaughters stayed with me last night and they started asking me questions about my memories of christmas and whilst they were amazed at how little we had it brought back such wonderful memories for me. Ok we didn't have much but the excitment of having a stocking with an apple,orange and sweets and a few toys and special treats that we only had at christmas was like magic. How my mum managed to put on the christmases she did I have no idea but she did year after year.

Mum died 31 years ago but thanks for all those wonderful memories.

Pat x

nudge

Monthly nudge for anyone who's interested to have a read, or add more watime stories:))

Cristmas 1941, living in two rooms in someone else's house with Mum and baby brother. I had two baby dolls in my stocking, one pink and one black. I dont know what happened to the black one, but I still have the pink one, some sort of hard stuff with painted finish. It still hasnt been dressed! Didnt take much interest in dolls!

what about christmas time wartime stories anyone

n

"n" for a good read later..

When I was in my teens, my cousin who was a bit older and earning more used to give me her laddered stockings and I would take them into Lewis's in Manchester and have them invisibly repaired for nine old pence a ladder. On the local market you could buy fully fashioned for two shillings and eleven pence and non fashioned for two shillings and six pence.

The machine for mending stockings was a latchneedle, and you picked up each dropped stitch in the same way as you do a dropped stitch in knitting. I still use clear nail varnish on stockings when necessary. I can remember when our servicemen were stationed on the African continent, to avoid customs, they would send home nylons one stocking at a time. You had to hope the second letter did nt get lost!

To stop a run in a ladder in stockings, we used to put clear nail varnish at the start and the the top of the run, but this was in the 60's, I've never heard of a machine that did it Marilyn, how intersting that would be to see, wonder if there are any left?

n

Can anyone remember a machine that used to repair nylon stockings ?

When I was little just after the war I was always fascinated with watching a lady in a shop window repairing ladders in nylon stockings, these stockings where so rare I can only think that they were gifts from the American service men .
My mother used to leave me there while she did her grocery shopping..

What a brilliant thread...nudge!

Anymore memories out there????
keep nudging memebers old or new