My Mum's War Memories

My mum was nearly four when World War Two ended so her memories are vague and some are more linked to the later 1940s and living in the aftermath of the war but I think all memories are valid, and it's interesting to see the perspective of people of all ages so I wanted to record her memories here.

My mum, Hilary Taylor (nee Wood) grew up in and around Manchester. She remembers being told by her mum, Alice Wood (nee Leith) that the planes that kept flying over Manchester were going to bomb Manchester and Liverpool and she remembers being told that it was very important that no light got out once it was dark at night.

Her father, James Harold Wood (known as Harold) was a Conscientious Objector and posted in various places around the UK in office work. Mum remembers going to visit him, particularly in Winchcombe. While he was away my Grandma was heavily pregnant with my uncle Colin. Grandma wanted to see what she could do with the war effort so she went to a local factory with my mum and asked what she could do to help. The factory told her that the best thing she could do was go home and look after her children.

Mum remembers the rationing, which wasn't strange to her because it had always been that way in her lifetime. She recalls being amazed when she asked her mum what the empty snack machines were for in the train stations and being told they were full of chocolate! Chocolate! Mum couldn't believe there had ever been that much chocolate available. The family used to get parcels from relatives in America with items that were not available here, such as rice.

She also remembers being fascinated by the posters in the train stations advertising overseas holidays because it seemed so unreal that anyone had ever done that.

At the end of the war my mum's street had a huge street party to celebrate. Soon after the war a German family moved into the street, the Kleins. They had a little girl who was a year younger than my mum and mum and her used to play together and my Grandma would stop and talk to the family but the other people in the street were less friendly. Mum obviously didn't understand why someone might have this attitude then and is grateful that her parents were welcoming.

Both mum and I wish we had more information from her parents about the war but they died when I was little, before I would have started asking such questions, and Grandpa was not all that keen on talking about it apparently. I would love to know what life was like as a Conscientious Objector.

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