The Home Front
Irene Strange was born in 1933. She grew up in Newbury and Thatcham in Berkshire.
Irene has five children. She brought her World War 2 gas mask which she used in school, as well as a 1940s cookbook, a wartime Russian book and her 1952-53 ration book. These are items she has collected.
Shared by Irene Strange at National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, Hampshire on 16 September 2023.
This Fair Isle waistcoat was knitted in February 1943 for Arthur John Gloys by his bride-to-be Joan Lilian Cartwright. Arthur came to Coventry from the Rhondda Valley in South Wales for war work in a factory but was called up to be a 'Bevin Boy' and worked in a local mine. The waistcoat was knitted from darning wool because it did not need rationing coupons; it cost 15 shillings 75p in decimal currency.
Shared by Lynn Patricia Rootham at Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire on 9 September 2023.
A letter from the police to the contributor's grandma, warning her for keeping a light on.
Shared by Edmund Gary Breakwell at Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire on 9 September 2023.
"Father was working in a paint factory in Colindale. One day, as he was walking home in the dark, he fell into shell hole created by bomb that had just landed. Father remained in London throughout the war, and the contributor visited from Nottingham occasionally. Father was in the Home Guard as he was too old (37) and not fit enough to serve."
Shared by Loretta Louise Whitcomb at University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh on 25 November 2023.