Britain in Crisis

March 2020 George West taped his father's memories of his childhood during First World War whilst George's grandfather was away in the army for 4 years. His father would often go very hungry but he spoke very highly of a local butcher who used to make a cauldron of hot soup to feed local children. An act of kindness in adversity.

George is one of the many elderly Groby residents who fall into the 'most vulnerable' group for whom contracting Coronavirus Covid -19 is potentially life threatening. Social distancing is critical for this group and George, like most of the over 70's in the village, is humbled by the kindness and generosity of those around them who are in a position to help. The lives of the vulnerable and elderly may depend on the rest of the community making sacrifices in order to halt the transmission of the virus. 67 died in one night in South Shields air raid

The current threat and hardships have invoked memories of an earlier crisis when he was a child – living through the Second World War. He has kindly provided his recollections.

Britain in Crisis

A different time, a different place

When I was five years old and the German army was expected to arrive any moment to sweep up the country with little opposition my mother would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure my younger sister and I ate every scrap of food put before us.

My mother made a large looking spider out of a misshapen potato using matchsticks for legs. She placed that on top of the dresser and told me that if I did not eat everything the spider would come down to get me. She also told me that Hitler flew overhead in a plane with a trap door open looking for children who did not eat their food. She went to such drastic lengths because she simply did not know where the next meal would come from.

We lived close to the Vickers Armstrong Weybridge aerodrome and later became used to standing in the garden as doodle bugs came over our house with engines cutting out, hearing my parents (my father in a reserved occupation) whispering "Keep going keep going" as the German V1 rockets dropped and exploded.

My mother was from South Shields. Wanting to be with her family (my grandfather and one of her brothers had been killed in the First World War leaving my grandmother to bring nine children on her own with no money). We travelled 12 hours by train from London to South Shields with the train overloaded mainly by families, and service people. The train was on blackout and had to stop frequently because of air raids.

People were even sleeping in luggage racks and even in the lavatories. To go to the toilet meant clambering over people in the corridors and asking those in the toilet to leave for a few minutes. All we had to drink through those 12 hours was warm sickly tasting orange juice. I can remember the horrible taste to this day

In those days people had little money but shared what they had with one another. My grandmother's front door was always open and the kettle always on the stove. What little money my grandmother received from the government was payable only by taking her children to the police station regularly to prove the children were under the age of 14. Above that age......no money payable. To supplement, like so many women at that time, my grandmother went to work helping in the ship yards.

Once again in my lifetime we now see the best and worst of human behaviour.

George West (March 2020)