Remembering the war times on the Wirral.
Do you have stories to share?

Bombings, Air Raids, Food, Housing, and the list goes on.

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Can you imagine in this day and age of fast food,hypermarkets and All you can eat buffets surviving on war time rations. How would you and your family cope?

These varied slightly from month to month, as foods became more or less plentiful.
Then following is the weekly ration for an adult:
Bacon and ham 4oz (100gm)
Meat to the value of 1s 2d (6p today). Sausages were not rationed but difficult to obtain, offal was originally unrationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration.
Butter 2oz (50gm)
Cheese 2oz (50gm) sometimes this rose to 4oz (100gm) and even up to 8oz (225 gm)
Margarine 4oz (100gm)
Cooking fat 4oz (100gm) often dropping to 2oz ( 50gm)
Milk 3 pints (1800ml) sometimes dropping to 2 pints (1200ml)
Sugar 8oz (225gm)
Preserves 1 lb (450gm) every 2 months
Tea 2oz (50gm)
Eggs 1 shell egg a week if available but at times dropping to 1 every 2 weeks
Dried eggs 1 packet each 4 weeks
Sweets 12oz (350gm) each 4 weeks
In addition there was a monthly points system.
Babies and younger children, expectant and nursing mothers, had concentrated orange juice and cod liver oil from Welfare Clinics together with priority milk. This milk was also available to invalids.
School meals were started during the war years to make quite certain that school children had the best possible main meal as most mothers were working long hours for the war effort.

That would get me back into my wedding suit (30 Years ago)

I can remember those days - just. Although I was too young to know much about food rationing, I certainly knew about the sweet ration, which from my memory was 2 oz. a week, not 3 oz., but I daresay it varied. I do remember being sent to queue at the butcher's when word went round that he might be getting some offal (tough old ox liver probably), or sausages, or tripe; ugh! Had to queue at the grocer's too. Even though you had an entitlement to something, it didn't mean it was always available, hence the queues which you had to stand in for over an hour sometimes.
We all seemed to keep reasonably healthy & you didn't see any fat people!
I've got a bid in for some wartime ration books. If I win, I'll be able to scan them & post them here.

Cheers, Chris

My grandfather lived in Union street in Wallasey close to the river.In those days he had several jobs and responsibilties as well as his day job as a window cleaner he also worked as a part-time park-keeper in Central park.In his local neighbourhood he acted as a fire spotter and helped the elderly in to the shelters during the blitz.
One night during the blitz the sirens went and as usual he jumped out of bed got his family down to the shelter and went back to help the old lady who lived two doors up.On his way back the bombs started to fall as he neared the shelter he noticed that a incendary bomb had landed at the front of the next door neighbour's house and had ignited the front door ,so doing the decent thing he risked his own life to get water and extinguish the fire before it caused too much damage. Imagine my grandfathers horror after the all clear was given and he informed the neighbour of what he had done ,instead of praise the neighbour punched him square in the jaw and said thats for ruining the carpet.

ha ha ha

I have a few stories i will post when i get a mo.

I think it must have been right at the end of rationing. I remember being sent by my mother to a house in the next road (Prenton Dell Rd). I had to knock at the back door and get a 2 lbs bag of sugar. Impressed on me to keep it out of sight when walking back ! Can't remember how much it was, but looking back on it, I guess I was just keeping the old Blackmarket ticking over.

Sweets were still on ration. Remenber the shopkeepers always had a small pair of scissors on a bit of string. These were for cutting out your coupon from the book.

Seem to recall that I and most of my friends in the road were like galloping hairpins. No fatties then !

I look in the mirror now and wonder when did it all go wrong.

Were you Hungry as a kid ?

I can't remember being hungry during the war. Lots of people had allotments, so vegetables were quite plentiful. I remember there were large allotments on Kings Rd., Higher Bebington, between Cavendish Drive & Princes Boulevard. I used to go there with sixpence or a shilling (a shilling was 5 new pence), & come back with whatever was in season. Incidentally, the site of those allotments is still there, overgrown but undeveloped; don't know why, I would have thought it would be prime building land. (Memo to self: find out why). Close to our house, what is now the Mount Estate was allotments too & many people kept a few chickens for the eggs. When the chickens were too old to lay, they would be boiled (too old & tough to roast). This gave a big pan of soup & the meat would be put in a pie.
I'm pretty certain there are still allotments off Prenton Rd. West, behind the Rovers' ground. Another site that was allotments was all of Birkenhead Park north of Ashville Rd.
Incidentally, if I remember correctly, bread wasn't rationed until after the end of the war & it was years before rationing ended completely.
Of course, there were always criminals like Pinzgauer's mum who would buy stuff on the black market. I'm sure my parents would never have done such a thing

Cheers, Chris.

Don't remember being hungry. I DO remember getting a lecture if I didn't finish what was on my plate though !

Chris: It was YOUR Mum who lived in that house in Prenton Dell Road !!!!

Pssst. Want to buy some nylons ??

Damn, knew I should have kept my mouth shut.
Got any gum, chum?
I'll pass on the nylons; I'm not that way inclined sweetie.

Here's a pic. from my family album. (No.22 is my gran's house). Some of the kids appearing to give the 'V' sign are copying Winston Churchill's famous Victory gesture. The subtle difference, which has escaped the kids, is that Churchill's sign was given with the palm facing outwards.
Lots of streets had brick built air raid shelters. It was later claimed that they were so poorly built that if a bomb fell near, you'd be safer outside, otherwise you'd end up under a pile of bricks.

wow this is very interesting, all the rationing stuff.. my nan an grandad still have their ration books im sure x

love seeing and hearing all this sort of stuff, apparently in the war my great aunts and nan and great nan on this side were all involved in nursing. the name St Caths was always mentioned, and a Mill Lane, all i know is these were in Birkenhead and Wallesey, other than that I know nothing about them in war time. I do however have a Maltese grandad who until he died always told us he came here after the war due to shipping and we always assumed he meant building them at Cammell Lairds, turns out he was hiding in his little room in Valletta, Malta sending Britain infomation regarding the shipping movements of the Germans to North Africa from Italy supplying Rommell to fight Monty. Britain granted him citizen ship after the war. My french side was Involved in the Resistance and dad grew up knowing he lost a few aunts and uncles in the war, there was never a mention of the war when papa was around, it was to painful for him but when he died my Dad told me some of the things they did and some pictures, I have some back home and will did some out. The things they did made me realise that why i get excited everytime i hear the word 'sabotage'

Interesting stuff placid both hospitals are still there but are mainly only used for outpatients ,the elderly and in the case of Mill Lane a minor injuries unit.

wow mill lane, my bro was born there while we was here on holiday

I know St.Cath's well; Church Rd. Tranmere. As a boy I sang in the choir at St.Cath's church next to the hospital.

any pictures of both these hospitals anyone??

Next time i'm passing i will try and remember for you.
They have changed alot.

Chris, my uncle has a street party picture too.
Or my minds playing tricks lol....

Thanks for sharing that one

"Incidentally, the site of those allotments is still there, overgrown but undeveloped; don't know why, I would have thought it would be prime building land. (Memo to self: find out why)."

Chris I think that some of that land is still allotments, there's been some nibbling at the edges with the building of "The Cokers", Alexandra Drive (I think as the houses are newer) and Kingsbrook way. I used to live off Bebington road and you used to see people going in to tend to their plots.

Yes, I think you're right, now I look at it on Google Earth, some of it is overgrown but there do seem to be lots of allotments still. Problem with Google Earth, there doesn't seem to be any indication of date. For instance, my street shows no houses, which were built in 1999. On the other hand, Live Search shows my car, so it's no older that 2005.

Cheers, Chris.

I've just remembered; that's the site of Cokers nurseries (guess you'd call it a Garden Centre now). Thanks for refreshing my memory. That's why any little input is valuable, & possibly for an unexpected reason.

Cheers, Chris.

this area, is it st caths or mill lane area we are on about

Extract from the Wirral Civil Defence and Emergency committee may 1941



Incidentally these records are available for viewing at wirral archives

Wirral Archives

Jonno; can't get either of those links to work. Both seem to link to http.com

Cheers, Chris.

I've just won a quantity of stuff from 1940's/50's on e-bay: ration books mainly. I've scanned some of it & will be posting them here gradually.
First item is an Identity Card. They ran from 1939-1952. Everyone was issued with one & had to carry it at all times. I have to say, I don't remember having one, but I must have. Among other things, you needed it to get a food ration book.

Cheers, Chris.

Chris

I still have my wartime identity card - even though I was only a baby I still had a card. Makes a mockery of all the current fuss about issuing identity cards to everyone (at huge expense).

On the wartime topic my dad (90 next month) acquired a computer a few years back and has written his memories of his time in the RASC/ Third Division. These cover his background from Wallasey Grammar School, through training and the lead up to D-Day, the experiences of the invasion at Normandy Sword Beach and then the push across Europe through Falaise to Holland, Belgium and Germany. A final section describes his time in Egypt/ Middle East. Very recently I have converted his text into a website

http://continuacs.googlepages.com/home

Dad kept lots of original documents eg papers signed by Generals Montgomery, Whistler etc and a copy of his own personal officers report of the actual D-Day landing to D+14. Scans of all those papers can be accessed via the website

Snod

Ive had a quick read, and i think its amazing,
a real eye opener..

Thanks so Much for sharing.

How lucky we are today.

Thanks, Snod; I've bookmarked it for later.

Excellent stuff Snod.Really enjoyed reading

My mother was in Mill lane (Highfield) having one of my sisters when a land mine was dropped. They were all told to get under the beds when the sirens went. My mother told me they could hear the bomb which came down on a parachute scraping down the roof but it never went off and was defused by bomb disposal. If it had gone off being under a bed would not have helped and I wouldn't be here now.

The same type of mine was dropped on Lancaster Avenue in Liscard and everyone in a shelter was killed apart from a baby girl who was found alive some days after the raid protected by the bodies of her parents. I believe she went to Canada in later life?

The current police station in Manor road now stands on the site.

very interesting story bud cheers

Wallasey central library has ten albums of photos of the bomb damage in Wallasey. It is amazing just how much damage was done all over the borough and they don't cover every bombing.

One really good one of a dirty great unexploded bomb in the living room of 1 Earlston road.

It would be nice if the library people copied them to computer and stuck them on a website before any more are nicked or get damaged.

Shame on those people who have nicked some of the photo's in the past. Spoil it for everyone else why don't you!

Here is a video on Youtube about Wallasey and Birkenhead during the war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvWBGHbOtLQ
Very interesting.

A picture of the damage

I found out today that I have a direct relative named on the WWI Memorial Stone at Hamilton Square and also one on the WWII Plaques on the wall in the Wirral Museum.

All these years and I never knew!