Chapter 4 - Allotments

These were a big feature of the workingman’s life in wartime as a supplementary means of feeding the family. These were a parcel of land rented from the local council for a very small sum and were around about one quarter of an acre in size. Most of them had a small well dug by hand say 10 feet deep, usually lined with used bricks obtained from the local steelworks. This was necessary to provide water for the hens, rabbits, and sometimes pigs and also for the garden when planting seedlings and during times of drought. A bucket on a rope dropped down was the means of drawing water and a wooden lid on top to prevent evaporation and keep out debris. All the men erected sheds on their property, simple wood framed buildings and covered with used galvanized, corrugated steel sheets also obtained from the company store and tarred yearly to prevent further rusting of the roofs and walls. These structures were of all shapes and sizes, there didn’t seem to be any rules or regulations as to what they should look like so you can imagine what a sight it was seeing a hundred or so of these places together. The only uniformity was the colour, probably because tar only came in one colour, black!

PSB Video on Digging Allotments for Victory~

Video for the song 'Dig For Victory' by Public Service Broadcasting. All footage is (c) BFI National Archive / COI. 

Here is a list of some of the many things that were pertinent to life in Britain during the war.

1.     Food, clothing, petrol and many other things were rationed or in short supply.

2.     Any person who was fortunate enough to own a car and was not a doctor or in any other form of essential public service had to put the vehicle up on blocks to support the frame remove the wheels and sit back and look at it for 5 years.

3.     The people who worked on billboards seemed always busy as the whole country was covered in placards with advice and information.

·      Careless talk costs lives

·      The walls have ears

·      Holidays at home

·      Is your travel really necessary? (Travel was discouraged to save energy).

I

·    Switched on switches and turned on taps make happy Huns & joyful Japs

·     Do stick the remains of one tablet of soap onto the next to conserve soap

·      Dig for victory, rent an allotment.

 I am sure there are many more which I cannot recall but another phrase was commonly seen in the public wash and brush up facilities which obviously amused me to remember it, “If you spare a thought to your successor here, you will probably have less reason to curse your predecessor.”