Staying with Granny

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Mairi Campbell of the BBC on behalf of Emily McLachlan of the Glasgow Old Peoples Welfare Association and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

My main memory of my time during the war was in the summertime when my sister, my two cousins and myself went to stay with my granny in Meadowpark. It was like a holiday and the huts we all stayed in were like a lovely bungalow. We had a paraffin lamp and cooked on a coal stove.

We weren’t from Ardeer Munitions and heard flares dropping on farmer’s fields. I also remember someone saying once that our huts were on fire which led everyone to evacuating. I had to go to school there and the locals treated us like evacuees i.e. they weren’t very pleasant to us!

Once the war was finished I was glad to get back to my normal school! I was 12 when the Great War finished and I remember the day with everyone happy and relieved. There were great celebrations with big bonfires, dancing and singing, cakes and biscuits. I had two brothers in the Navy and a sister in the WRAFS and was looking forward to seeing them but the war changed people and it was sad the way it affected them.

Looking back it was a happy time staying at my granny’s and the days after the war finished were full of happy celebrations but it was sad the way the family went their own ways after it.

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