DIGGING FOR VICTORY, by Alexander Hook
Dad had an allotment in 1940 in order to grow food and so help the war
effort by “Digging for Victory”. The allotments were situated in Fox Hollies
Road, Acocks Green on ground now occupied by towers of high rise flats, and
extended from the block of flats and shops on the parade to almost as far as
York Road. The aforesaid block of flats/shops on the parade were built after
the war ended on the site of a large static water tank which extended a long
way back from Fox Hollies Road. Part of the Hall Green Little Theatre was
also built on this site. The plot Dad was given is now part of the car park
at Fox Hollies School. All this area of land was ancient undulating Saxon
farm land, and once belonged to Lt. Col. Walker who resided in Fox Hollies
Hall.
All that was left of the Hall was its foundations and cellars and in 1940
they were flooded and I used to watch newts swimming in the pools. I was
eight years old by then, and Dad, my brother John and I used to cycle from
Mayfield Road to the allotment to work at weekends and in the evenings.
Riding our bikes along the path I thought was fun, going up and down over
the Saxon ridges.
The first year on the allotment was very hard work because it had to be
double dug, and the turf was very thick and tough so there was not a lot of
time to spend sowing, but I think we managed to plant a few rows of
potatoes. I wasn’t big enough to do the digging, but I soon learnt to plant
and sow and also hoe up the potatoes as they grew. Some of the time I
wandered into the Hall orchard and picked damsons, cherries, apples and
pears - great fun climbing trees. My brother was evacuated with his school
to Warwick during this time but some weekends he would cycle home and help
on the allotment. Not that the Luftwaffe stopped their bombing at weekends!
The blitz meant the R.A.F. moved in too. They brought a barrage balloon and
a winch lorry, and the crew lived in wooden billet huts under the trees a
few yards from the road. One day the balloon broke loose and its trailing
cables damaged the roof of a shop on the corner of Hartfield Crescent. The
scars can still be seen today.
The allotments did not escape the blitz. One air-raid left a huge crater in
the middle of the main path through the allotments, caused by a H.E. bomb,
fairly close to Fox Green Crescent. Sometimes I collected incendiary bombs.
The Germans used to drop baskets of them, and those that landed on soft
ground did not explode. I used to pick up the unexploded ones by the tail
fins and hand them over to an A.R.P. Warden, Bob Pratt, who had the plot
next to ours. He lived close by on the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Fox
Hollies Road and he took them home in a bucket of water or soil.
Despite all the problems encountered during the war we managed to grow some
very good crops of various vegetables which added a lot to our food supply.
It was good exercise and healthy eating. It is a pity the War spoilt it.
Raymond Evans (bombed out of Wildfell Road, later rehoused at 100
Gospel Lane)
As most of the men were in the forces and lots of women were working in
factories, on the land and in the forces, the farmers were short of labour
to pick the crops when they were ready. Our school was lucky enough to be
chosen to help with the potato harvesting. A charabanc (coach now) would
pick us up with our teacher Miss Boon, and away we went to a farm in the
countryside not too far away. We would be put in teams and given buckets and
allocated rows of potatoes to pick after they had been turned by the
tractor. Mid-morning the farmer's wife would come to the fields on a cart
pulled by the tractor with a large pot of hot cocoa for us, which also gave
us a rest before we carried on. If it turned out to be a rainy day we were
allowed into the barn which was half full of hay - of course we had a good
time climbing up to the top of the hay and sliding down again. At the end of
the day's work we were picked up by the charabanc and taken back to school.
We always had a sing song on the way.
Our school had quite a large playing field, and a strip of it was turned
into gardens. Each class had a patch which we dug over, and we were taught
how to plant and look after vegetables. We grew potatoes, turnips, lettuce,
swedes and radishes. When each crop was ready for picking they was sold to
the class that had grown them. The money then bought seeds and fertiliser
ready for the next season. (Thanks to Harry Murch for this information)
Dig for Victory poster from the Cyber Heritage website
Dig for Victory posters from the Heavy Horses website |
