Make Do and Mend [antikvár]

FOREWORD Food rationing is probably the first thing that comes to mind when the privations of the Second World War are mentioned, but many other taken-for-granted items of daily life were also rationed or in short supply. Recycling, more popular in today's 'green' society than at any time since the years of wartime austerity, v\^as the order of the day in the forties, with paper, old pots and pans and all manner of scrap salvaged to help the war effort. Fuel to heat your home or for your car or motorcycle was strictly rationed. Coal was needed for industries manufacturing for the war effort, and keeping the military mobile required vast amounts of fuel which became a precious resource as U-boat activity decimated supplies. Petrol was rationed from the beginning of the war in September 1939. Small allowances were granted for private cars and motorcycles; ration books giving the registration number of the vehicle had to be produced at garages. Even these meagre allowances were stopped altogether in 1942, and only people who were 'essential' car users continued to receive ration coupons. In those days far fewer people drove cars, so the lack of petrol affected a relatively small percentage of the population. The rationing of fuel for the home, with most houses heated by coal fires, had a far more direct effect on the vast majority of ordinary people. Saving fuel was vital to the war effort. Power stations needed coal to supply electricity to factories; many factories themselves needed coal or oil to run their machinery and the whole rail network would have ground to a halt without coal for the steam trains. Domestic fuel was allocated according to the size of the house and the region where it was located, while everyone v*/as also allocated a personal allowance.The year from July 1942 to June 1943 was called the year of the Ewy cilitwx—particuiitly tmty hcroMwil«—ii n« «h« (roni l>n* i„ th» vinJ B«»U iot fq.1 Ey.ryihinfl pwibt. muti b. don* to mt« (u.I. H«., in } »dr tor». ¦ rM»y wonh-whil* Mvin«. If »3 "I'