Digging for Victory

Nans were bright colourful abstract things.

I lived in south-east London and my maternal grandmother lived with us after her house was bombed in the blitz. She and my mother had a productive veg plot and kept about six chickens. If they didnt lay we ate them for Christmas. DF was posted to India in 1945 and used to send parcels of food and fabrics home to us. He was only meant to send one parcel per month b ut he used to send one parcel pepr person per month and I and my baby sister used to get a parcel and I could never understand why the tinned salmon and sausages that came in my parcel werent exclusively for my consumption.

He also sent home surplus small supply dropping parachutes, all my underwear was made from parachute silk until I was about 5, also army blankets, made into dressing gowns, carpets and saris to be made into dresses etc.

My underwear was all parachute silk as well.

My grandmother was a professional dressmaker and my mother was very good at sewing and knitting. I must have been 5 and needing school uniform like a gaberdine raincoat before I had clothes bought for me. By that time the war was over and clothes were off ration and more freely available. But I do remember DM & DGM making my pleated school skirt and blouses and knitting my school cardigans.

When my father returned from India he was posted to Carlisle and our house only had a back yard. However another officer at the depot bought some turkey pullets to raise for Christmas and the one allocated to my father ended up weighing 26 lbs. My mother had to dismember it to get it in the oven.

It was a warm Christmas, we didn't have a fridge and my father went away on army business the day after Boxing Day, leaving my mother, who always had a tiny appetite, and three children aged 7,5 and 1 with an enormous cooked turkey that was barely nibbled at. She ended visiting the neighbours, who she hardly knew, begging them to take cooked turkey off her rather than having to throw it away. I can remember having turkey instead of bacon or sausages for breakfast, turkey samdwiches for lunch and turkey casserole for supper for about a week.

Thank you! Lovely.

What a lovely surprise!

Most unexpected - rarely win anything - perhaps this is the beginning of the BIG TIME! Look forward to receiving it. Thank you.

What a fascinating book. I would love to read it. I have a huge interest in that period as my mother was in the FANNYS in Kenya during the war.

I have only just caught up here and see I am getting a book - I look forward to reading it.

Looking forward to getting mine too - as long as they are willing to mail it to here, Australia.

Thank you so much, I am really looking forward to receiving it.

Thanks for mine too. Will look forward to finding it on my return home next week.

My dad (b.1921), was one of nine children and he used to tell us great stories about helping on the family allotment and keeping hens in the outdoor privy at night when there were foxes about!

During the war, in Derby, all nine children were still at home. Grandad and my dad worked shifts at Rolls Royce on aircraft engines and cared for the allotment between them, always managing to put fresh food on the table for the family.

Grandad always grew special treats for grandma, like early strawberries or dahlias for her birthday. He taught me lots of things when I was little, neither of us realizing that 50 years later I'd be using some of his techniques!