Scott- At university were you under threat of air raid attacks?

Mrs Mathieson-Oh yes and I did fire watching. Every 10 days I spent all night in the middle of Aberdeen. We had buckets of sand and hosepipes. We slept on camp beds. We were there in case of fire at the university. It was voluntary. We did it because it was fun.

Scott-At home did you have to follow blackout procedures?

Mrs Mathieson- Oh absolutely. Our little dog was killed in the blackout. A car came along and didn’t see the dog.

My father used to knock at doors and say, ‘The light’s showing through.’

Stephen-What transport did you have in WW2 in Cove?

Mrs Mathieson-Bus and we had the train too. We took the train to Aberdeen.

Mrs McPhee-Did people have cars?

Mrs Mathieson-I only remember 1 car. Mr Davidson’s car. He lived up by the Loch of Loirston. We used to go to Nigg church. We had to go twice on a Sunday. One day walking back Mr Davidson came along in his new car. He gave us a lift and we were so proud.

Stewart-Did you find the war frightening?

Mrs Mathieson-To begin with no because nothing was happening but once the bombs started to be dropped in the area, we worried a bit. I can remember once when I was working in the Labour Exchange at the foot of Market Street the sirens went off and we were all ordered down into the basement. One lady said, ‘Na Na I want to see what that mannie Hitler looks like!’

Stephen-Did your father or anyone have to go to war?

Mrs Mathieson-No but my father was the Special Constable, the air raid warden and the Head teacher. He was called the Dominie.

Mrs McPhee-The thing that I’ve learned today is that Cove has changed so much. It really was a little country place. It wasn’t part of the town. (Aberdeen)

Mrs Campbell-Morgan-During the war you would have had to use your ration card?

Mrs Mathieson-Yes you only got 2 ounces of sweeties a week. It’s a small amount. Rationing went on for quite some time. Sweet rationing didn’t stop until about 1952 which was 7 years after the war stopped.

Sophie-What kind of games did you play during the war?

Mrs Mathieson-Skipping ropes and we played a game called Hubbles. You used to throw a ball against the wall and call it somebody’s name and you had to catch it.

Michael-What kind of food was there during the war?

Mrs Mathieson-Oh very uninteresting! With some trouble we got eggs and ultimately we got hens of our own at the school house.

Mrs McPhee- Was milk delivered from farms locally?

Mrs Mathieson-Oh no. We had to go and fetch the milk.

Mrs McPhee-Oh you had to go and get it?

Mrs Mathieson-We had to go to the farm.

Mrs McPhee-With a special container?

Mrs Mathieson-You just took your jug. Many a time I was sent for milk and I had a taste of it.

Mrs McPhee-So was it pasteurised or anything?

Mrs Mathieson-No it was just straight from the cow to the container.

Mrs Campbell-Morgan-So you had fresh milk, eggs, vegetables grown so really what you were eating, people pay a lot of money for now in the supermarket for organic food, fresh, natural produce.

Mrs Mathieson-I had plenty of vegetables. We had rabbit and hare too. My mother was very good at skinning a hare.

Mrs McPhee-So you had to skin it and take the fur and everything off.

Mrs Campbell-Morgan-So you didn’t buy a pack in cellophane that was already prepared.

Ryan- What street did you live at?

Mrs Mathieson-It didn’t have a name. It was just The Schoolhouse, Cove.

Mrs Campbell-Morgan-We can’t thank you enough for coming along.

Pupils-Thank you Mrs Mathieson.