You are dead right about the farthings in bread prices Gerry, I had completely forgotten that until you mentioned it. Well I remember bread rationing, I think it came just after the war ended and that the Labour Government had to bring it in. It must have been a tough decision for them. Is it just old age or the glow of distance, or were th politicians at that time, in both parties a lot tougher and more principled than those of today.

Frances , I apologise for confusing our prewar and post war experiences. Nine years is a long time at that age. It's hard to think of a slip of a girl like you being old enough to be an evacuee. Of course the whole evacuation thing was different on London from the rest of the country. The Blitz showed us why! It didn't happen at all in Coventry until after the first blitz, in November 1940 and even then it wasn't too widespread. By mid 1943 all of us had returned home. By that time Coventry was outside the reach of the Luftwaffe.

Somehow most of the sweetshops were also newsagents and tobacconists. Not the most obvious of bedfellows, as it were. Living in the US we tend to forget that such shops still exist in Britain. Milk is still commonly delivered too, although the baker's cart has pretty well disappeared. In a later missive I'll tell you about my experiences on a horse drawn baker's cart.

Ralph Worthington

Hi Gang!

Where you looking over my shoulder William???
Only yesterday I was looking through a book I have called "Life on the Home Front" in a Journeys Into The Past series. Found an interesting page on Rationing. As a child I was aware of rationing, in particular 'sweet' rationing! ;O] Found the following article complete with lists of the major items of food stuff that were rationed.
********************
Eating & Drinking: Eating habits were transformed everywhere by wartime shortages, synthetic foods and rationing.
In many countries where food rationing was introduced, the health of the civilian population improved. In Britain, for example, the poor fared better than they had in peacetime because of government encouragement to eat healthy, vitamin-rich foods. Pregnant women were supplied with milk and orange juice so that fewer mothers died in childbirth. Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food, ensured that every British child got daily milk, cod-liver oil and orange juice too, to boost vitamin intake. Everyone may have been a little hungry in wartime Britain, but no one starved
WEEKLY RATIONS IN BRITAIN: - Average quantities per adult person. Children's ration books were similar with smaller quantities of most things, but a few additions to encourage healthy growth.
MILK
Six glasses
EGGS
Half a real egg (1 egg every other week)
MEAT
500g (roughly 1 lb.)
* BUTTER & MARGARINE
Approximately 300g
* SUGAR
Two teacups
* EDIBLE OIL
Half a tea cup
TEA
Just under a tea cup of dry tea leaves.
For brewing tea in a teapot. No tea-bags available then.
CHEESE
30g (approx. 1oz) on 5th May, 1941
Increased to 225g (approx. 8oz) by 26th July, 1942
JAM
One and a half teacups
* These quantities included any requirement for cooking
********************
BREAD was not rationed by strict quantity, but regulated more by availability due to quantities of ingredients being obtained by the bakers. High premium white flour as we know it today, was almost non existent. Long queues for Bread and other such items were a common sight.

VEGETABLES Extra supplies were grown by almost all of the general public who had a home garden. Utilising every available inch, flower beds were sacrificed for more productive growing. My mother grew potatoes in our front garden where our roses used to be!!! The Anderson Shelters in back yards were camouflaged with soil and things like cucumbers and marrows were grown on top. Does anyone here remember the "Make do and Mend" posters....
Clothes too small were given new life by combining two garments. One supplying different coloured borders etc. to attach to hemlines and be inserted in bodice tops and sleeves of other dresses, as I remember. Woollen jumpers and cardigans were lengthened in the body and sleeves by knitting extra on the ribbed portion at bottom of the garment and on cuffs of the sleeves. The extra wool being obtained from unravelling other knitted items that had become too small. Luckily for me my mother turned this into an art form. Does anyone else here have memories of their shoes that had become too small, but being given a new lease of life as peep toes when parents had cut out the toe caps to allow the big toe freedom... ;O] Many items remained in short supply or rationed several years after the war ended. My brother was born in 1949 and I recall Mum borrowing/buying clothing coupons from friends and relations simply to buy terry towelling nappies (diapers). A cousin did the same thing to get a 'nice' new dress to get married in the same year. I can also recall going from Portsmouth to Reading on a school outing at age 12 in 1948 to Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory. We were allowed to eat samples of all biscuits baked on the premises, but as many were not available even then in Britian not allowed to take any off the premises. Most of the 'yummy' ones were "For Export Only"!! Our bags and pockets were searched on the way out to make sure we didn't actually take any of these out of the building...... The type I remember most was those small round biscuits with a small swirl of coloured icing on the top. All chocolate covered and cream filled biscuits were also still on the export only list. Bye for now.

Margaret - Perth, Western Australia

Hi everyone!

Margaret's message reminded of the free bottles of orange juice, cod-liver oil and milk that we used to get. I remember the orange juice was concentrated and needed water adding to it, but the cod-liver oil would be taken as it came out of the bottle. For some reason, and I cannot imagine why, I used to drink as much as I could, telling everyone at the same time how much I loved it. The family that I lived with were always aghast at my actions, because every other child they knew loathed it. I am not sure that I really did love cod-liver oil as much as I said I did, or whether it was merely an attention seeking gimmick on my part; I suspect the latter, because I just have to look at the stuff these days, and I want to pewk! Yes Margaret, I too can recall children wearing shoes with the toes cut out. Can you imagine what the kids of today would say if we tried getting them to wear things like that. Nowadays it has to be Doc Martins! I also recall making my First Holy Communion in Tisbury. For those of you who have grown up in a Catholic environment, you will understand what a special occasion making your First Holy Communion is in a Catholic family. The little girls are dressed all in white, from top to toe, with a little white veil on their heads. Although I still wasn't living with my mother at the time, I understand she went to a lot of trouble to get me the right clothes to wear for the occasion, traipsing all over London in her efforts to do so. She managed to get everything in white, except shoes, and so she very reluctantly settled on a pair of black patent leather shoes, with a buttoned strap across the top. Needless to say she had to use her ration coupons in order to purchase them. Mum made a special effort to be with me for the big day. I got all dressed up in my white clothes, and put on my black paten leather shoes. As nice as they were, though, they just didn't look right! Anyway, not wanting to hurt my mother's feelings I pretended I loved wearing them, and that they looked perfect. On my way to the church, we called in on a much wealthier family than the one I was living with (they seemed to have everything), to meet up with another girl who was making her First Holy Communion with me. When the mother of that family looked at my shoes she cried out in horror, 'You cannot make your First Holy Communion in black shoes, take them off and put these on'. She pulled out a pair of white plimsolls, and I dutifully put them on. My mother, in the meantime, had already gone to the church, so she was unaware of what was happening. She got a bit of a shock, however, when she saw me walking down the aisle to the front of the church in my white plimsolls, to take my place with all of the other girls and boys. She never said how she really felt about the incident, but I can remember her saying afterwards that I looked much better in white shoes than I would have done in my black paten leather shoes. Until the next time,

Eileen