Bicester History: Memories of a 1940s childhood

WHAT would today’s children think of the smell of the black rubber gas masks we had to wear?

My sister had a special Micky Mouse version and very small babies were completely covered with a head mask.

Another memory which would seem strange today was that we sang Grace before eating our midday meal at school: "All good gifts around us are sent from Heaven above. So thank the Lord, then thank the Lord, for all His love. Amen."

Miss Morrison, our teacher, would give tasks to children by way of congratulations for a piece of work well done.

My sister was given the task of cleaning out the paint cupboard when she passed the scholarship and gained a place at Bicester Grammar School!

Grammar schools had previously been fee-paying schools but during the war became open to those who attained a required standard.

The school leaving age also rose from 14 to 15 at this time.

The attendance officer was a very important person and parents who did not send their children to school on a regular basis were reprimanded severely.

I loved going to school so was seldom absent – but it was not all good memories!

The plague of lice at the school regularly supervised by ‘Nitty Nora’ was a humiliating reason to be absent: when lice were discovered a child had to stay away from school until they were cleared.

I remember my aunt and my parents combing my long curls with vinegar and a small toothed comb and watching the lice fall on to newspaper to be burned on the fire.

It usually took about two weeks to clear head lice completely and hair was afterwards kept short or plaited.

Impetigo was another humiliating condition which, fortunately, I did not get but deep blue paint was used on the sores which distinguished every victim.

We had a regular school dentist – a large lady who used cocaine and a large needle!

I was quite wary of fillings and the scraping noise, but with very little sugar around and no sweets, children’s teeth were reasonably good.

My father bought me a baby goat which I had to feed on a large bottle until she was old enough to peg out on the grass to graze.

Schoolchildren coming up the lane enjoyed a mutual game with her as she loved to butt them with her head.

She was a pedigree and had no horns. She was often outside the school, grazing the grass verge by the teacher’s home.

Sadly, Betsy the goat had to be sold back to the farm when she was three so that she could find a mate.

The village hall became a packing factory for the war effort and many mothers worked hard at this as well as looking after their families.

Home meals often consisted of rabbit stew with dumplings seasonal vegetables and lots of potatoes.

There was always a rabbit skin hanging in our pantry to give to the rag and bone man for a penny.

I helped pluck cockerels at Christmastime – for sale, never for us to eat.

My father mended our shoes and the ‘iron foot’ he used is still here. My mother belonged to a shoe club and Mr Prentice, from Bicester, would visit regularly to pick up a small sum of money which kept us fairly well shod. Mr Prentice was also an antique dealer and would try to buy any heirlooms we might have.

I was lucky because my father was too old to serve during the war. He had given four years during the First World War and remained with us during the second.

Other families had to manage without their father. My father was a member of the Home Guard – ‘Dad’s Army’ – often involved in guard duty after a full day’s work.

He would return home in the early hours, lay his army greatcoat over us as we slept downstairs to be near the shelter should a raid come and lit the fire to warm us up.

With a Methodist Preacher for a grandfather, the Christian way of life was important to us and we were encouraged to read and pursue learning, something we, as a family, have always done since.