WESTBOURNE
A village history in West Sussex
During the 1940's most women stayed at home to look after their families. Their days were filled with washing by hand, drying outside and ironing on the kitchen table. They bought fresh food from local shops, there were no supermarkets or on-line shopping to make their task easier so regular shopping was a necessity as there were no refrigerators. They cooked fresh meals for their children coming home from school and their husbands returning from work. Nationally most men worked in the manufacturing industries such as steel making, shipbuilding and also coal mining. Most people in Westbourne had electricity although one of my school friends had oil lamps. Again most had inside toilets but a friend in Long Copse Lane had his at the top of his garden. Few people had cars so playing in the roads was the norm as the nearest park was in Emsworth. Similarly few people had a telephone, our nearest was in the familiar red box by the post office in North Street. A black box with A and B buttons for accepting the coins or returning them. The first TV seen was at the chip shop in The Grove. It was a black and white picture that looked as if it had been taken in a snow storm. Our entertainment came from the wireless with the news of the war and serials such as Dick Barton. Homes were heated with a coal fire and the floors were covered with and assortment of carpets. A holiday was a day out was by bus or train at the beach or visiting relatives. A holiday out of England was for the rich folk.
During the war food was supplied to Britain from overseas by ships and many were sank by enemy submarines. In 1940 ration books were issued to each member of a family to control the buying of food, clothing and furniture. If you had used up a ration for a particular item you could not buy any more until the next week. It is believed that vegetarians could use meat coupons for other foods. In a way children who had meals at school had a double ration as coupons were not required. Did that apply to the cooks as well? During this time a familiar slogan was "make do and mend". As clothes were in short supply, they were handed down to younger children, swapped between families, mended or made into different clothes. My mother was very good at darning socks.
UTILITY was introduced in 1941 by government minister Hugh Dalton to offer a restricted range of garments of simple, but sound, design, low price and guaranteed quality. As many skilled workers had signed up to fight, and raw materials were in short supply, manufacturers had to be more efficient in their production methods.
The government laid down strict guidelines to control the quantity of fabric and accessories used. For example, on clothing, pockets were restricted, a maximum length for men's shirts was introduced and there was a ban on turn-ups on men's trousers. Top designers such as Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Edward Molyneux, Victor Stiebel and Bianca Mosca were commissioned to design utility ranges. They produced a practical, durable robe of a coat, dress, suit and shirt or blouse of agreeable quality The utility mark, two black circles with a segment cut out and 41 in the second circle, stood for Civilian Clothing 1941.
It became a guarantee of value for money, and the scheme was later extended to cover bedding and furniture. The term utility stuck with the public to describe many items that looked plain and simple, but functional. The scheme was finally withdrawn in 1952.
HOME & SCHOOL LIFE 1940 - 1960