Al Havenhand - collected by Hope Valley u3a
Health and Safety?
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I was born in Feb 1935 and so I have memories of the Blitz. I lived in Darnall, a suburb of Sheffield and at the top of our road was an old stone bridge called Kettlebridge that gave access to the large railway sheds that were part of the LNER line. These were before ‘Health and Safety’ days, and we children could wander into the sheds and the men would let us ride on the turntable for the steam engines. We could even go into the canteen and beg a cup of tea and a bun. |
Obviously, this being the age of steam, the engines needed coal and to a large extent, this was manhandled. Most of this work was done by Italian POWs who were brought from Lodge Moor camp on SUT (Sheffield United Tours) buses. They were dropped off by the bridge in the morning and marched over to work by their officer. As far as I can remember I do not recall ever seeing any British guards with them; they were under the control of the Italian officers. I presume that the authorities thought that they would not be stupid enough to try to get back to Italy and be killed anyway. One of the men often walked about a mile, unaccompanied, to the local Littlewoods to buy spaghetti and so on. We would often talk to the men who could speak English and none of our parents seemed to be worried about this. I remember that the Italians would get very agitated if we climbed onto the bridge walls but otherwise it was friendly and good fun. I suppose they were worried that if one of us fell they would be blamed.
My family stayed at home, although a lot of our neighbours chose to send their children away. The bomb damage around us, in many ways, was great fun for young boys as it was not cleaned up for several years and therefore provided a great playground. On waste ground and in nearby fields bomb craters provided great ponds for frogs and other pond life and in winter excellent ice rinks (not that we had any skates). Health and Safety experts of today would have been appalled.
I remember the excitement when bananas appeared again. Smith's potato crisps were, for a while, a much sought after treat and, of course, everybody saved their coupons for some chocolate. As children, we did not appreciate the sacrifices our mothers made for us as most of their rations finished up on our plates. Despite the restrictions, I was happy and contented.
Most people tried to grow vegetables in their gardens or on allotments and some with larger plots kept chickens and pigs. I remember one man who, if you took him your mother's kitchen peelings would give you some boiled sweets (no idea where he got them from!) The peelings were put in a large vat and boiled to make pig swill and we all tried to get to be the one who helped to stir this sloppy mess. One man even had a pony and the ultimate honour was to be allowed to sit on the pony's back.
Part of the area I am referring to is now where the Parkway link to the Ml runs. In the 1940s this land consisted of allotments, farms, the Nunnery colliery and a disused quarry. On the Manor Lane area leading up to the Castle, there were anti-aircraft gun emplacements looking out over the Don Valley, as this was the line taken by the Luftwaffe when they were attacking the steelworks. I remember seeing them but not of course in action.
