Z1205/246

Female. Married to former Italian prisoner of war. b. 11.02.1927 SIDE A (00mins)Born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire. An only child. Father worked on the land and in road gangs. Lived as an extended family, with her maternal grandparents and an uncle in the one house. (05 mins)Grandfather had served in the First World War and was a prisoner of war. He used to talk about what it was like in the trenches and suffered from rheumatics when he got older. Grandmother was a nurse in the First World War and that was how they met in London. She was a Londoner. Her uncle was like an elder brother to her, playing games in the evening, before the age of television. Her paternal grandparents lived in Horncastle so she saw them less, but later moved closer to them. (10 mins)Freedom of children to roam the countryside in the 1930s. Just attended one elementary school from 5 to 14 years. (15 mins)Seasonal work in farms. Winters were much colder than they are now. There was always snow at some point during a winter. Ponds were so frozen over that you could skate on them. Day trips to Skegness by coach. (20 mins)Donkey rides on the beach, amusement park, Punch & Judy shows. Street photographers. Used to look after an invalid lady next door after she left school, then got a job in a dried pea factory. (25 mins)Worked 8am. to 6pm at factory. It was really hot in the summer and very cold in the winter in there. 20 or so female workers. They had pop music played to them over the radio and used to sing along with it. She was still at school when the Second World War started. Later moved to Horncastle where there were Anderson air raid shelters in back gardens. (30 mins)They had an indoor Morrison Shelter (metal table) to shelter under. Father joined Auxiliary Fire Service. She and her Mother used to spend air raids in under their shelter together until the "all clear" siren sounded. Rationing of food but plenty of vegetables in country areas. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Food shortages. Registering with the local butcher for meat. Rabbits from the surrounding countryside provided a source of non-rationed meat. People kept hens for a supply of fresh eggs. Everyone urged to "Dig for Victory" by growing their own supply of vegetables. Everyone took their gas mask with them in case of enemy air attacks using gas (which never happened). Remembers the end of the war, when the lights were switched on in the town centre at night for the first time since the commencement of the war, with street dancing. (05 mins)Children from Grimsby and Cleethorpes were evacuated to their village, for safety. Her future husband was an Italian prisoner of war (POW) in a local camp, from where he was sent out on a bicycle to work on local farms. He visited their house, through a mutual friend. There were also German POWs but they were not allowed the same freedom as Italians. They began to meet but always with her Father as chaperone. (10 mins)Married when she was 24. A few other English girls also married Italian POWs. Her husband came from Salerno in southern Italy. She visited his family with him in 1948. (15 mins)Meeting his Italian family. Married after 6 years. Lived in a tied cottage belonging to the farmer her husband worked for. Used to visit her parents each weekend. Had two sons. (20 mins)Never learned Italian. Used to eat a mixture of Italian and English food. Through another Italian her husband got of know of better-paid work in the Bedfordshire brickworks. Moved to rented rooms in Bedford. (25 mins)Husband worked for Marston Valley Company at Ridgmont. Two sons got apprenticeships. (30 mins)Bought a small car, an Austin 7. Took some getting used to her husband working shifts, including night shifts. (32 mins)End of Side B Side A (00 mins)Visited Italy a number of times. (05mins)Reflections on changes during her lifetime: fear of crime and leaving the house at night. (09 mins)End of Side A Original Interview 70 mins.

4 November 2003

From: 1925 To: 2003

item

Marston Valley Brick Company Limited,
London Brick Company

farm worker, World War Two, prisoners of war, World War One, health, nurse, games, skating, frost, holidays, wages/conditions, air raid shelters, employment of women, Auxiliary Fire Service, rationing, vegetables, butcher, rabbits, gas mask, dancing, evacuees, Italians, Germans, LANGUAGE, food, apprenticeship, crime, holidays, Lincolnshire, Horncastle, Salerno, RIDGMONT