0:00:02 > 0:00:04They told us Britain had declared war on Germany.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06I used to go home looking up to the sky,
0:00:06 > 0:00:09hoping that I would see a dog fight.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11It was like one big adventure.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'That's me, Isabel.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'And that's my granddad, Alan. He's 82.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'At the start of World War Two, he was nine years old, just like me.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'During the war, Granddad lived at the top of this hill.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'From here, he'd often see British war planes
0:00:51 > 0:00:54'going off to fight enemy planes attacking London.'
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Sometimes I go to school by car,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04but mostly I go to school by walking. How did you get to school?
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Well, I used to go to school on my roller skates.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10But of course, as you can see,
0:01:10 > 0:01:11this hill is quite steep.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14But there was no danger because there was no traffic.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18'The mile-long journey had taken 20 minutes to walk,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21'or less than ten on his roller skates.'
0:01:25 > 0:01:29'This is his school - Preston Park in Wembley.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30'It's still here today.'
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Is this your classroom?
0:01:39 > 0:01:45Yes. I was last here in about 1940.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50'Granddad's classroom would have looked something like this one.'
0:01:50 > 0:01:56The different things about that time was, our teachers don't wear suits.
0:01:56 > 0:01:57No.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59And we don't have blackboards.
0:01:59 > 0:02:00Yes.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02We don't have individual desks either.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Yes.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06AIR RAID SIREN BLARES
0:02:06 > 0:02:10'Sometimes, when Granddad was at school,
0:02:10 > 0:02:11'they'd hear an air raid siren,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13'which meant that enemy planes were in the area
0:02:13 > 0:02:15'and might be dropping bombs.'
0:02:15 > 0:02:20What happened if an air raid went off when you were in school?
0:02:20 > 0:02:24It really was disruptive and the headmistress here
0:02:24 > 0:02:28has written about the daily effect this had on the school.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31So here you see September 6th, for example.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34"School began at 10.30 this morning
0:02:34 > 0:02:38"and at 2.15 this afternoon, following air raid warnings".
0:02:38 > 0:02:43September 14th. "School opened at 10.50 following the all-clear,
0:02:43 > 0:02:48"but children went to the shelters at 11 and remained till 11.40."
0:02:48 > 0:02:51If the air raids happened during school,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56then I think I would feel a tiny bit scared.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58'But Granddad wasn't scared.'
0:02:58 > 0:03:02I used to go home sometimes hoping, looking up to the sky,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06and hoping that I would see a dogfight with the Hurricanes
0:03:06 > 0:03:08and Spitfires attacking the bombers
0:03:08 > 0:03:13and all the white lines and tracks left in the sky.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Because, for a young lad, believe me, that was very exciting.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26'During the war, 9,000 bombs fell in the area where Granddad lived.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29'Because of the bombing, many children were evacuated
0:03:29 > 0:03:33'to safer parts of Britain or even to other countries.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38'Some of Granddad's school friends were sent to Canada on this boat.'
0:03:38 > 0:03:43Here, on September 23rd, is a very sad entry.
0:03:43 > 0:03:44"The whole school was shocked today
0:03:44 > 0:03:48"when we received the news that seven children
0:03:48 > 0:03:50"lost their lives when the ship
0:03:50 > 0:03:54"in which they were being evacuated to Canada was torpedoed.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59That would be a bit sad if two of my friends got torpedoed.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00Hmm.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03AIR RAID SIRENS BLARE
0:04:03 > 0:04:07This is an air raid shelter that was used during the war.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11'If a bombing raid happened when Granddad was at school
0:04:11 > 0:04:14'the whole class was sent to an air raid shelter.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18'There's one like it in the school today. It's now a museum.'
0:04:18 > 0:04:20A lot of old stuff from the war.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Oh, yes, yes.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Did you rush to get out of school and into the air raid shelter,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30or did you all have to line up sensibly?
0:04:30 > 0:04:35Ah! We filed out and no-one was allowed to run from the classroom.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38So we came out in an orderly fashion.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40Then the teacher checked
0:04:40 > 0:04:44that everyone was out of the classroom and we'd be counted in.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46It was like a fire drill.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Were you allowed to talk?
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Oh, yes. Oh, yes, you could talk and carry on.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54We used to take some exercise books in and try to work.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57But if anything's going on outside, it is a big distraction.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59You can't concentrate, really, can you?
0:04:59 > 0:05:01I used to like to sit near the door
0:05:01 > 0:05:03because I liked to hear what was going on.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05It's quite similar to this
0:05:05 > 0:05:10because there's wooden benches going opposite each other
0:05:10 > 0:05:14and they're doing their schoolwork which they would be doing.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20This is a purpose-built solid brick air raid shelter
0:05:20 > 0:05:23with a reinforced roof, as you can see.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25How did you feel in the air raid shelter
0:05:25 > 0:05:27when there were bombs going off around you?
0:05:27 > 0:05:31We weren't really scared, no, not at all.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35But the uncertainty of the rockets was the worst thing
0:05:35 > 0:05:38because the V1s, you could hear.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42And if the engine stopped, you knew there was imminent danger.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45How did you know when the air raid had finished?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Well, the siren would go up high
0:05:49 > 0:05:55and then stay on high for a steady pitch.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58ALL-CLEAR SOUNDS
0:06:00 > 0:06:02When the all-clear siren sounded,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Granddad and his friends collected pieces of metal called shrapnel
0:06:06 > 0:06:09from the recently exploded bombs.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Here's two examples of shrapnel.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16And they really are thick, jagged steel.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Here, just hold a piece and see what you think of it.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It's very sharp and heavy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Hmm. Yes.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27It would hurt if you threw it at someone.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29- It would hurt a lot. - Oh, yes, oh, yes.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31And it's very, very strong.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39'Granddad lived in this house with his mum, dad and brother.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:45Is that your mum?
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Yes, that's my mother.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50That's my brother Robin and my mother...
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Elsie Francis.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56And that's me as a young lad.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01My brother was not pleased that I hadn't smiled.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Did you have a bomb shelter at your house?
0:07:05 > 0:07:07No, we didn't have anything like that here.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09My mother and father went to sleep
0:07:09 > 0:07:12underneath the table in the front room.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15So if the ceiling came down, the table would protect them.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19My brother, Robin, was behind a bookcase
0:07:19 > 0:07:20with a cover over the top
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and he slept in the corner there.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27'Granddad slept on the sofa under an ironing board.'
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Now, this ironing board
0:07:29 > 0:07:33was put across the back of the bed like this.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37And then put on the back of a chair
0:07:37 > 0:07:40and the seat of the chair was level with my bed.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46It feels weird because you can see,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49like, the ironing board in front of you
0:07:49 > 0:07:51instead of the top of your ceiling.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54But, of course, when all the lights went out
0:07:54 > 0:07:57you could forget about it, couldn't you?
0:07:57 > 0:07:59I would have felt a bit scared.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08One night, when everyone was asleep, a bomb fell on the house next door.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13How did you feel in the morning
0:08:13 > 0:08:15when you woke up and you realised a bomb had hit the house?
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I realised something very serious had happened.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21And I could hear a lot of shouting.
0:08:21 > 0:08:27And, er...then I was picked up by a police inspector.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31And my brother, Robin, was picked up by a fireman
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and we were carried out of the house.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37The people next door,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41where six people had been killed, had stood no chance.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44So the emphasis on the rescue was to try to get my mother out.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50And the worry was, would the house collapse while they were doing it?
0:08:51 > 0:08:57So my grandfather said, "Well, I'm going in anyway."
0:08:58 > 0:09:04So the rescuers went in, they followed him in,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and, er...but it was too late.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14My mother had been killed and we were all in a state of shock.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31Granddad's mum, my great-grandma,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35was one of the 60,000 people that died in Britain
0:09:35 > 0:09:38during the bombing raids of World War Two.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41'Granddad's told me lots of stories
0:09:41 > 0:09:45'about his life growing up as a child in World War Two.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'But my favourite was that he slept under an ironing board
0:09:48 > 0:09:50'and it saved his life.'
0:10:04 > 0:10:06That's your great-granddad.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08And we called him Our Butcher
0:10:08 > 0:10:11because that's where we used to get all our meat.
0:10:11 > 0:10:12Yes.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15'That's me, Anesha. I'm 11.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19'And this is Mrs Campbell. She's 78.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21'She's been a family friend for many years.'
0:10:21 > 0:10:24- Do you remember Nanna Lily?- Yeah.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- You must take after her, Anesha. - Yes.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Mrs Campbell was five at the start of World War Two
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and lived with her mum and dad.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38This was my dad. And his name was Simon.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42And he was born in Jamaica. He came over into the country.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44He was in the Merchant Navy.
0:10:44 > 0:10:50'Mrs Campbell's dad would go away on ships for up to two years at a time.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54'They carried goods like food, coal and oil.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58'His job became even more important during the war,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01'as Britain relied on these things to survive.'
0:11:02 > 0:11:08The family lived in Bute Town, close to Cardiff Docks in South Wales.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13The docks were targeted, along with many big cities,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15by enemy bombing raids.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Over 2,000 bombs fell on Cardiff during the war
0:11:18 > 0:11:22and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24It was quite a dangerous place to be in
0:11:24 > 0:11:30and that's why some parents wanted their children to be evacuated.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Being evacuated meant leaving your home
0:11:34 > 0:11:38and going to live in smaller towns and villages outside the cities,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40which were less likely to be bombed.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45'Three million people were evacuated during the war.'
0:11:45 > 0:11:47Mrs Campbell was one of them.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50She was sent with her classmates from St Mary's,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52the same school I am at now.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Right, Anesha. Now you're going to be an evacuee.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58There's your suitcase.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06There's your gas mask, which is very, very important.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08And there's your label.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'Labels were important in case children got lost.'
0:12:14 > 0:12:15And everyone had a gas mask,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19just in case poisonous gas bombs were dropped during air raids.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Mrs Campbell and I are going on the same journey
0:12:26 > 0:12:29that she took as an evacuee when she was seven.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33We didn't go on trains very often.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37I don't think I'd ever travelled from this station before.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40So although we were a bit unhappy,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44we were also very excited.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Children from cities all over the country
0:12:47 > 0:12:50were evacuated on trains like this one.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54Some of our little cases. I had a small case.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58That's a gas mask.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02- They all look happy, don't they? - Yes.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Because, to all of us, it was like one big adventure.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13We're going to Aberdare, which is 25 miles from Cardiff,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16to where Mrs Campbell and her school friends were evacuated.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Do you remember what you saw when you were on the train?
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Actually, it's 70 years since I was evacuated.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31So my memory's not all that good.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34But one thing I do remember is seeing so much green.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Because where we lived in the docks,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40we didn't have a lot of greenery.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Did you know how long you were going to be in Aberdare for?
0:13:45 > 0:13:48No, we didn't. We didn't have any idea.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50All we knew was, we were going to be evacuated
0:13:50 > 0:13:54and we were supposed to be staying there until the end of the war.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01And I remember some of us were looking at our gas masks
0:14:01 > 0:14:04and wondering if we'd ever need to use the gas masks.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08I think we just, for the most part, enjoyed the journey.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Although we did have some children who were a little bit upset.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14- But you made the most of it? - Oh, we made the most of it.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19Those are very good words. We made the most of it. We had to.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Yes.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23'When Mrs Campbell arrived in Aberdare,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25'she got off the train, just like me,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28'with her suitcase, gas mask and label.'
0:14:29 > 0:14:32We all had to walk down to the school.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36I wanted to go and remember saying, "I want to go home to my mother."
0:14:38 > 0:14:44This is where the Aman Junior School was when I came here.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49It was really very, very different
0:14:49 > 0:14:54but it's the stonework that I remember most of all.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58The stones and the mountains and the green trees.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01They remind me of when I was here all those years ago.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08We all stood in the big hall and people would come in.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And they would say, "Oh, I'll have these children",
0:15:11 > 0:15:13or "I'll have those children".
0:15:13 > 0:15:16And I remember that my friend, Betty Neale and I,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19we were about the last two to be chosen
0:15:19 > 0:15:22because we wanted to stay together.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25And I wondered if anyone was going to come and take us,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27or if we'd have to get on the train and go back home.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31So then we were feeling a little bit apprehensive, as you know,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34why hasn't anyone come along and taken us?
0:15:34 > 0:15:37But a nice couple, Mr and Mrs Challenger,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41they said that they wanted us to go and stay with them.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45Mrs Campbell and her friend Betty walked a short distance
0:15:45 > 0:15:48to this house, where Mr and Mrs Challenger lived
0:15:48 > 0:15:50with their daughter Hazel.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53We came into the house
0:15:53 > 0:15:57and Mrs Challenger had a meal arranged for us.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01It was placed in front of myself and Betty Neale.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05And I think it was then that it dawned on us
0:16:05 > 0:16:08that we were away from home. And we just sat there.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11We didn't pick up the knife or the fork.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13We just sat looking at each other.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17And then Mrs Challenger said to us,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20"If you don't know how to use a knife and fork,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22"bach, use your fingers."
0:16:22 > 0:16:26She just thought that because we didn't pick up a knife and fork
0:16:26 > 0:16:29that we didn't know how to use them.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31How would you have felt if you were in my shoes?
0:16:31 > 0:16:34That you were coming out, leaving your mum and dad
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and coming up here
0:16:36 > 0:16:38to live with strange people?
0:16:38 > 0:16:41I think I might have felt left out.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Because they would have had a daughter that would know them
0:16:45 > 0:16:51and they might treat me differently than they treated her.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I don't think we ever felt left out.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58But now and again, Hazel and I would have an argument.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00But the thing is, I could say,
0:17:00 > 0:17:05how did she feel that here were her parents taking in two other girls?
0:17:05 > 0:17:09- Yes.- And previous to that, she'd been the only child in the house.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Did your parents ever come to visit?
0:17:13 > 0:17:17My hair was really, really bushy and my mother used to plait it.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21But I'm afraid Mrs Challenger didn't know how to plait my hair.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25So my mother would come up on a weekend.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28She would plait my hair tightly and then all during the week,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32I'd just go like that with a brush,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34so that was nice and flat.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36And my plaits stayed in place.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41And also my dad, who was a seaman, was going away to sea
0:17:41 > 0:17:43and my mother brought him up to see me.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45He brought me a handbag,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49a little leather handbag that he'd brought from another country.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51And I remember it had Red Riding Hood on it.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Why did you go back home to Cardiff?
0:17:54 > 0:17:58I went back earlier than I was expected to
0:17:58 > 0:18:03because my dad was killed in September 1942.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08His ship was torpedoed by a German submarine.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14And I think my mother was a bit upset about that.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20And she just felt quite alone with me being in Aberdare
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and my dad not coming home any more. What she said to me was,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27"I'm taking you home because if we're going to die,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29"we'll die together."
0:18:35 > 0:18:39I went home, but unfortunately I left the beautiful handbag
0:18:39 > 0:18:41with Red Riding Hood on.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42I've always regretted that
0:18:42 > 0:18:46because that was the last thing that my father ever bought me.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54After the war, Mrs Campbell went back to St Mary's School
0:18:54 > 0:18:57and later became a teacher there.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00But she never forgot her experiences during the war.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05The fact that you were, you know, taken from your house, your home.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Put on a train, met new people.
0:19:08 > 0:19:09It almost...
0:19:09 > 0:19:13To me it was almost like an adventure from an Enid Blyton book.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Hi, Tyler.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Oh, that's lovely.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37- How are you? All right?- Yeah.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42'That's me, Tyler. I'm nine and that's Sarah.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43'She's a friend of my Nanna.'
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I've started rugby at school.
0:19:47 > 0:19:48Have you? Great.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52'Sarah's 83, but at the start of World War Two she was 11.'
0:19:54 > 0:19:59During the war, Britain's cities were attacked by enemy aeroplanes.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Bolton in north-west England, where Sarah lived,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05wasn't as badly bombed as other places.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09But the war had a big impact on Sarah and her family.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17She was in this church when she first heard that war had broken out.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21The priest was serving Mass
0:20:21 > 0:20:27and then he told us that Britain had declared war on Germany.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29I was very frightened.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32And I ran all the way home,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36thinking that on my way home,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40there'd be Germans coming round any corner at any minute.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45That was just being silly, wasn't it? But that's how I was.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Did you know anybody who was in the war?
0:20:48 > 0:20:51My father was in the war from the beginning.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Well, my mother wasn't very pleased because he'd joined up.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59In joining up, her dad volunteered to be in the armed forces
0:20:59 > 0:21:01and fight for his country.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02As war went on,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04all fit young men had to join up.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08What did you feel like when your dad went to war?
0:21:08 > 0:21:12There were things that you used to be a bit frightened of,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16as you always relied on your father.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20And it made it worse because they couldn't write to you.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Just now and again you'd get a little card
0:21:24 > 0:21:27and it had been censored with the officers.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29They couldn't tell you much.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33"Censored" meant the soldiers' letters would be checked
0:21:33 > 0:21:36to make sure they didn't give away any secrets.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Sarah's dad was away for long periods
0:21:38 > 0:21:41but was given permission to visit her in hospital
0:21:41 > 0:21:44when she became sick with diphtheria -
0:21:44 > 0:21:46a very infectious illness.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Sarah was kept away from all visitors for six weeks.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51If your mum came to see you,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54they had to look through a window outside at you.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56They couldn't come in.
0:21:56 > 0:22:01And, in my case, they got my father home on leave.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04He was stationed in England at the time
0:22:04 > 0:22:07but he could only speak to me through the window,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09which upset me a great lot.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Who looked after you when your dad went to war?
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Well, my mother had to work.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19I was the one that did a lot of things.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21I had a little sister to look after.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23She was seven years younger than me.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28During the 1930s, most women stayed at home
0:22:28 > 0:22:30to look after their families.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33But during the war, women did traditional male jobs
0:22:33 > 0:22:35whilst the men were away fighting.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38If I had to look after my sister,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41it would be happy because I'd be with her,
0:22:41 > 0:22:46but sad because my mum would be at the mill
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and my dad would be at war.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52I used to cook a meal for when my mother came home from the mill.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I was only 12. You know what I used to make?
0:22:55 > 0:22:57- What?- Corned beef hash.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Because it was easy.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05During the war, there was far less food to go around.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Rationing was brought in all over the country
0:23:09 > 0:23:13to ensure that everyone got an equal share and had enough to eat.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15What did you eat during the war?
0:23:15 > 0:23:19- Well, would you like to see? - Yes, please.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22- Ready?- Um-hm.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27- That's quite a lot. - Per person.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28Oh.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30For a week.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34'The sorts of food that were rationed were jam, sugar,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36'butter, cheese,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'meat, eggs
0:23:39 > 0:23:41'and even sweets.'
0:23:41 > 0:23:45If that had to last me one week, I'd never feel full!
0:23:45 > 0:23:47And it would be hard.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Did you, when you were little, sometimes go
0:23:49 > 0:23:52- and sneak into the kitchen and take some?- Oh, yeah.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54You couldn't get tinned fruit at all.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58But now and again, you'd get word that there was some somewhere.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02My mum, she got this tin anyway, pineapple chunks,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and put it away for a special occasion.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09And I just don't know what come over me, but I just got it down,
0:24:09 > 0:24:10right off the top shelf.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15And I made a little hole in the top, poured all the juice out.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I drank the juice. Oh, it was good!
0:24:18 > 0:24:21I hadn't had any for a long time.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25When my mum come to use it, quite a long time after,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27it was all furred up inside.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Gone bad.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Where did you get your bread from?
0:24:32 > 0:24:35They used to deliver that by horse and cart.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38And my mother used to say, before she went to work,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42"Now, we only need a loaf today."
0:24:42 > 0:24:44But sometimes I was a bit naughty.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47And it was too much for me and I'd get a doughnut.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51And when my mother came to pay the bill on a Friday,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53she wasn't pleased with me at all
0:24:53 > 0:24:55because I'd had a few extra things.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59But when I used to see them on the tray, I couldn't resist it.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02There were no supermarkets then, so Sarah's mum had to visit
0:25:02 > 0:25:05different shops to buy her meat,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07cheese and vegetables.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10The shops, there weren't a long way in between.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12You'd get them on every corner.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17I'd feel exhausted if I was going to every shop.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19And then coming back with everything ready
0:25:19 > 0:25:21and then maybe have to go again.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Many people added to their food rations
0:25:24 > 0:25:28by growing their own fruit and vegetables in gardens
0:25:28 > 0:25:29and on any spare land.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32The government started the Women's Land Army
0:25:32 > 0:25:36to increase the amount of food grown in Britain.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Over 80,000 women worked on local farms.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41And Sarah wanted to be one of them.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47'I wanted to join the Land Army but I was only 14.'
0:25:47 > 0:25:50I was going to be naughty because I was a big girl,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and say I was older than I was.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Just to join the Land Army.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59But the sister at our school... I was ready for leaving school then.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01She said, "Well, if you're that keen
0:26:01 > 0:26:04"and you know you can't go in the Land Army
0:26:04 > 0:26:06"because of your age,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10"I can find you a job to help the farmer." Which she did.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15Sarah spent hours and hours weeding fields like this one by hand
0:26:15 > 0:26:18to help grow food for the people of Bolton.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Did you take any of your own food home?
0:26:23 > 0:26:29She used to give me cabbages and potatoes and flowers for my mother.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32And of course my mother liked that, you know.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36And I could drink as much milk as I wanted during the day,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39when it used to get warm.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43So, you know, it was pretty hard work, really.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46But you had this sense that you were helping.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49And that's what it was all about.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51This is where I used to live here.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52Has it changed much?
0:26:52 > 0:26:54One day, my mother was taking to me a shop
0:26:54 > 0:26:59and in the distance I saw this soldier walking up our road.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01And, you know, I said,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04"That's my father."
0:27:04 > 0:27:08So my mother said, "It's not your father, he's in France."
0:27:08 > 0:27:12But Sarah was right. It was her dad.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17He had a beard, which he didn't have before.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20And he was just unkempt,
0:27:20 > 0:27:25not tidy at all, which is understandable.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Anyway, we got him home
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and when he'd had...
0:27:31 > 0:27:34a wash and a shave,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36a nice hot cup of tea,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39he came round a little bit.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43But when he did go to bed, I think he slept for three days.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Sarah's dad had been fighting in France in May 1940,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52when the German army pushed the British forces
0:27:52 > 0:27:54into a small area of the French coast.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Over the next nine days,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00he was one of 340,000 men brought back to Britain
0:28:00 > 0:28:03as part of the evacuation of Dunkirk.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08To welcome Sarah's dad back home, they had a street party.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11But it was not until the end of the war in 1945
0:28:11 > 0:28:14that the whole country could celebrate.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20See all the happy faces there?
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Everybody smiling.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31The party went on all night and all day the next day.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd