TIES WITH HOME

Following on from my previous post about connecting threads, writing “A Tarnished Life” took me back in time and helped me rediscover my roots and the person I once was. As a child I used to visit my grandparents on a Saturday morning and loved listening to their tales about when they were young. Having lived through both wars, they had experienced more than their fair share of hardship and tragedy. My grandfather, who was severely injured during the Battle of the Somme, rarely spoke of the war and life in the trenches, but my grandmother would tell us how difficult day-to-day living was. The short passage from my book below is loosely based on one such conversation as I remember it.

“Then clothing was rationed and the motto became ‘mend or make do’. Emma was fifteen at the time and spent quite a lot of time poring over fashion pages in magazines. Her mother was a dab hand with a needle, but materials were rationed and so new dresses became a thing of the past much to Emma’s chagrin. Sewing kits were set aside in favour of knitting needles and khaki yarn to make socks, mittens, scarves and other comforts for the soldiers at the Front. Mum got them all involved. Edie was a very competent knitter, Emma hated it, but mucked in with the easier stuff. Even Maggie tried her hand at making a scarf although it was very difficult for her to coordinate her movements. Emma knew that Mum picked up the dropped stitches and sorted out the mess every night when Maggie was asleep”.

The men fighting in the trenches were never very far from anyone’s thoughts and letters and parcels from home were of great comfort to them. Apart from the obvious practical use, these simple knitted garments represented gestures of love and affection and a bond with the homeland they were fighting for.

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