MUM'S WAR MEMORIES 9

OUR ALLOTMENT

My grandfather kept his allotment all throughthe war. He had been brought up in the country at Stainton-le-Vale. He provided us with a valuable amount of vegetables and fruit when they were in season. Freezers were not known about then so we looked forward to strawberries and gooseberries coming into season. He kept his pots. for sprouting from one year to the next, he also took cuttings and kept seeds because everythng was in short supply. He was a very good gardener and I can remember other allotment holders coming to him for advice.

He found it difficult to do everything, especially when my father went into the Forces as he used to help quite a lot. He was often very tired because he had to fire watch at night so I was told to go with him and help. He taught me many things - simple things like digging a trench and sprinkling lime in the bottom of it before setting carrot seeds as this apparently stopped the wire worms from eating the carrots.

During the last 2 or 3 years of the War I used to cycle down there, the allotment was at the back of Carr Lane. I would go there as soon as I had eaten my tea and do some weeding, water the toms in the greenhouse with the sheep manure water out of the barrel and then I would pull a few carrots or pick a few peas if they were ready and sit in the shed and eat them.

One day I was going to the allotment to pick some logenberries but discovered that I could not cycle down Carr Lane because there was a large bomb crater in the middle of the road with an unexploded bomb inside it. I had to go back along Cooper Road and back up again along a road nearer to the allotment.

We all loved going there, especially in the summer. Everyone was very old except for women who were trying to keep things going themselves. There were always lots of children and everyone was very friendly. They also did a lot of bartering of their produce.

I have since thought how lucky I was to have relatives living in the country and a grandfather with an allotment. With hardly any sugar ration and very little fat I must have eaten a very healthy diet although at the time I could always have eaten more!

When I was ten or eleven a school welfare officer came to see my mother and said they were concerned about me as I was so thin and hadn't 'developed' at all. She suggested that perhaps I should get more fresh air. "Fresh air!" my mother said, "how can she have more fresh air - she is never in the house." She needn't have worried because I did develop and once I started I thought I was never going to stop.