Were any of your friends involved in the war?
Amy: Yes, a good many. I had brothers involved in the war, three brothers.
Ina: I lost my brother – he was killed at Dunkirk and my cousin was in the Navy – his ship was blown out of the water 2 days before the Armistice. Quite a few were helped but we did lose those 2 in the war.

How did you get news of what was happening in the war?
Amy: We got news; a lot of rumours used to come over – Reuter wasn’t it? They used to give messages over the radio – it was a lot of propaganda that used to come through – you were not sure whether there was truth in it or not… you got the Packy Gazette News remember?
Ina: The Diamond Street Picture House used to give us black and white pictures of the news – that was true enough because photographers had been out there taking pictures.

What did you miss most once food was rationed?
Amy: Fruit – bananas especially. You used to have to queue for them when they got them in the shops and that wasn’t often. Sweets as well!
I still have my ration book and my identity card.
Ina: They took the coupons out of your ration book so you just got one lot and no more!

How many people could fit in a bomb shelter?
Amy: There were 7 of us; 5 children and our mum and dad. It was reinforced concrete… underneath the ground you see, you went down steps into it.
Ina: Anderson shelters, they were made of corrugated metal; some were made for a big crowd and some were made for families, it depended where you lived.

Any of your family in the forces?
Amy: My 2 brothers were in the army, the Gordon Highlanders; I was in the land army.
Ina: I was in Inverness and it wasn’t quite so bad up there. We had army, navy and airforce, which was more prominent up in Inverness.

How hard was it to get new clothes?
Amy: You just had to forget about it – you had to do with what you had.
Ina: Make do and mend, that was it that was what we had to do. Believe me there was some lovely dresses and everything made during the war…
Amy: I think clothes were rationed, we could only get so much anyhow; such as stockings things like that, we couldn’t get them.
Ina: No!
Amy: Unless any Americans came over and gave you them – they were the rich people, the soldiers
Ina: No tights, very difficult to get them. Everything was difficult to get, but we struggled on and won the war and that was the main thing!