So did you live near a place that was bombed?
Elsie: No.
Martha: I remember one night I was in bed with my mother when Bannermill (down beside the beach) was bombed. We were in our beds and the vibration threw us out of our bed and we landed on the floor …and that was the worst bit I remember. I didn’t realise what was happening though I was screaming my head off but that was the scariest part of it.
And then there was a pipe factory behind (I stayed in Albion street which was on the boulevard) and the bomb just missed our house an hit the pipe factory and shattered all the pipes- that was the scariest part.
To realise what it was like when we were kids you would have to understand their that we had no bathrooms. We could not have a bath or a shower when we wanted… no television, refrigerators or washing machines. You had to go down in to the washing house; build a fire under a big boiler, get hot water (no hot water in the house- if you wanted hot water y had to boil a kettle on the fire) and you just got a kettle full of water and then you went down to the washing house built a fire underneath this boiler and you’ve got your hot water there… you transferred into wooden tubs, did your washing on a scrubbing board- an all day job. Once your washing was done you’d to cross the street to hang it on your ropes – it wasn’t fun.

What sort of things did you eat during the war?
Elsie: Not a lot. You only got 2oz cheese (small piece of cheese), bread was rationed (we had ration books) and we couldn’t go into a shop like you do nowadays and buy a loaf o bread. You got half a loaf and you had to have coupons out of your ration book, certain amount of coupons. It was the same with your sweeties. I remember maltesers…maltesers were still on the go at that time. You had sweetie coupons- they were ‘E’ and ‘D’. ‘E’ was 4ozs an a ‘D’ wis just 2ozs. So you just got a packet of maltesers for your D. That was for a week! Y didn’t get a pack of maltesers every day like you would do nowadays. So ‘sweeties were rationed. Furniture was even rationed and clothes. If you didn’t have coupons you did not get new clothes. (We were up at the Gordon museum an they had your rations laid out over on a plate.)

Did you get more on the farm?
Martha: O aye we were okay on the farm. We had eggs and plenty milk my father grew all his own vegetables and I mean they had hens and you had all that- you see. But I mean if you didn’t eat what was set out in front of you…well you had it. There was no choice – none at all! Take it or leave it! For your supper you had a boiled egg, if you were lucky. One boiled egg…that was your supper! Most of the times it was mince and tatties and bacon, but that was about as much as you got in a week– half a pound of mince in a week and that was to do the whole family.

You were always hungry?
When I think back to it now…we were always hungry, but you weren’t aware of it. At the time ye did not have money like they do nowadays. We didn’t get rolls in the morning. You were lucky to have a bit of toast in the morning or a plate of porridge… porridge every morning. No cereals on the go at that time.
When a pile of bananas came in and you used to have to queue for fruit. Down at the shore there was a place called Barnetts; it was a wholesale-shop and that was where the boats came in and you had to queue there. You were maybe allowed 2 oranges or 2 bananas at a time- no fruit in any quantity. We never got a whole apple or a whole orange.

Did any of your family go to war?
My cousins all went to war. My father died when I was just a baby, so my cousin and I were both brought up with my grandma. He was so much older than me. He was 18 – he had to go to war. And I do remember him coming in with his army uniform. He was a driver an he did time in Germany.

In a concentration camp?
Yes, not for long… about 4 months before the war finished. He was a very moody sort of person once he came out of the army because he had seen a lot but he didn’t speak about it. However later on over the years he began to speak about it – but it was not fun.
You just have to realise it is a different generation now. We didn’t have recorders and things like that…no-no, nothing like that. It was difficult, no technology whatsoever. A radio kept you in touch or if you went to the cinema- and the partly news kept you in touch with the outside world. …No television, no refrigerators. . . battery accumulator… away to the garage to get topped up with acid.

…Which cinema?
…Casino [wasn’t a gambling place- it was a picture house] on Wells st. It was on the Boulevard and the Kingsway round on King St- but that was dearer. We could go to the casino in the afternoon for 4d in old money [2p to you]. After decimalation came in, prices went up. That was the worst thing that ever happened in this country because I was newly married. Prices didn’t go up by a penny, it went up by 5p, which was a shilling in old money. Your way of living completely changed because you weren’t getting enough wages to correspond with the decimalation. So we were poorer – there was no doubt about it.

What sort of sweets did you have?
‘Coo candy’ (Highland candy), maltesers, liquorice allsorts and pandrops but that was about it. There was not the variety you have today. Sour plooms and hard sweets…a lot of them made their own toffee and a lot made their own tablet with sugar, once it came more plentiful. But you didn’t have Coca Cola or that. We were getting a small bottle of orangeade and lemonade. That was about your variety at the time…no hamburgers or nothing like that.

So how did you celebrate the end of the war?
We were taken down to the harbour, like a big party in the harbour – that’s what I mind on. Later on the Japanese surrendered and we had a big party in the Caslegate, all the neighbours, everybody. Some played accordion and some played the piano.
…during the day? …at night?
It started during the day and went on all night.
…What about in the country?
The only thing I can remember is being standing waving flags. That’s the only thing I can remember about it!
In the school we had mesh stuff over the windows so if they did happen to get blown in, the class wouldn’t come out in. Sometimes you heard the sirens going but nobody ever got bombed in Insch …not out in the country.
At night you could sometimes see searchlights in the sky …always searchlights. Another thing… you always had to have your blackouts- never had to have any peeps of light. Another thing I remember is the foghorn, always going for the boats.
In the country that must have been tough?!
Aye! Heavy curtains.
The ARP (Air Raid Precautions) used to go around, checking everybody that their windows were darkened.
They were men who always had a tin helmet on- they help people that had been bombed. They went around the bomb sites (places that had been bombed) to give first aid to them that had been hurt. I do remember ARP-always yellow bands- yellow on their hats.

Do you think Chamberlain made the right kind of choices during the war?
Well he was taken in – Hitler told him a lot of lies, I think. He told him things that never happened. He said there wouldn’t be a war. After that there was a war. I cannot really remember much about the government at that time...I was just a child. Now I think he was taken in by Hitler.

Did you have the chance to vote?
I was 18…it was 21 before you could vote. I was brought up by my grandmother as I said and my grandmother was staunch labour. My grandmother’s neighbour was staunch conservative and there was some battle royals there – but they never stopped speaking to each other. They never came to blows or nothing but there was some awful rows about it!
At the time we were kids, we weren’t paying much attention to that. Some of the older ones would moan about that.