World War II at School

Stanton under Bardon Primary School

Mrs Sparrow: The war, at the beginning, didn’t have much effect on children, it was more of a game and I think it was nice that it was made to be a game because it didn’t frighten children. The school work just went to one side and we were expected to do so much, we were always being told to do your bit.

Interviewer: What did you have to do?

Mrs Sparrow: Well, we collected waste paper for salvage. We collected during the summertime rosehips for rosehip syrup, we collected foxglove leaves for making a drug, these were dried at the school on wire frames or strung along the hall until they were dried and crispy and put into bags. We also collected foxglove seeds, that’s digitalis, and that was used for painkillers for wounded soldiers. We collected books, the book drive was you took 10 books into school for salvage you were made a private, you took 20 books into school you became a sergeant, and if you took 50 books you became a lieutenant or a captain, and the more books you took your badges came off and another badge went on. We did the school garden. We’d got school meals at that time and a lot of the vegetables and fruit from the school garden was used in the school kitchen. We were like self-contained, you know.

Interviewer: Even at that small age?

Mrs Sparrow: Even at that small age – we learnt to garden right from the beginning, yes. We had a national savings group, we raised quite a lot of money and one of the highlights of our national savings effort, we actually won a battleship, which was quite an event because we reached a target - I can’t remember how much money we’d got to raise – we’d got this amount of money anyway and the battleship was due to arrive, I mean we’d no idea what this thing was, but it was colossal.

Interviewer: Was it a model?

Mrs Sparrow: Oh it was immense, you could get on it and walk round. It must have been on a low-loader, when you’re a child you can’t always take things in. It was big, grey battleship with guns, turrets and everything. The day it came down into the village the village all turned out, the buntings were all on the school railings and it was quite an occasion. And this great big battleship sailed down the village. I remember the captain of our national savings group, one of the boys from the top class, went on to receive our target certificate to say we’d achieve the amount of money that they expected us to collect. It was a great day that was.

©EMOHA