Childhood Memories pt.4

I recall my mother attending a knitting guild where ladies knitted socks for people in the fighting services. Allotments also sprang up on disused plots of land for people to grow more crops, so my turf gathering was only helping whoever had that plot of land to clear the soil for cultivation.

School Monday mornings became a day when children were urged to buy savings stamps. This, obviously, could not be compulsory in case some families could not afford it. Once a month, Monday morning became “Target week”. We were thus encouraged to buy a savings stamp of higher value — and not to be a “Squander Bug” — a hideous cartoon creature with pointed ears, a pear shaped body covered in swastikas and having stick arms and legs.

My mother would listen to the radio doctor on the BBC, explaining some nutritious recipe made essentially from unrationed vegetables and/or the cheapest and smallest quantity of meat or fish. A fairly unpopular food, with children, was dried egg powder sold in dark brown, waxed cardboard boxes. Spam met with mixed feelings from children, but chocolate powder mixed with milk powder and sweetener distributed in schools to children in our own National Dried Milk tins was a winner.

A song with the words “Potato Pete, Potato Pete, look who’s coming down the street. He’s got orders to repeat, so get your hot potatoes from Potato Pete” became common — obviously to encourage people to fill their dinner plates with locally grown, ration free vegetables. We were told how good carrots were for our eyes. “All our pilots eat plenty of carrots.” What child didn’t want to be a pilot? Also, bread crusts would make our hair curl! We also had it drummed into us that we should eat all the food on our plates because sailors were losing their lives to bring it to Britain for us.

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