Lowroader,
Your input rationing gave me food for thought. Who remembers the ration books ? I do, we were sent to Mrs Bleakleys wee shop ,Cigarettes, sweets and sugar were rationed and Mr or Mrs Bleakley cut the coupons out with scissors. Funny, but Germany stopped rationing earlier than Britain
Donald

Donald,
Rationing was a way of life when I was growing up, hence the trips to Omeath, Dundalk and points south, where there was no rationing. I do not want to get too political but the reason why Germany finished rationing before us was simply that the US sent all the food to them for free whilst we were still having to pay for ours and the Marshall Plan where the US had lent us money to buy ammunition and ships etc. We didn't finish paying this loan out until a few years ago.
There are times when some of us wonder who actually won the war!!!!!!
But back to rationing - yes I well remember going round to Morrow's shop with my ration book. Thankfully Mrs Morrow was very liberal with her scales, especially for older folk.
I often had to sit and "churn" butter using an old sweetie jar and a paddle to make what we called "Country Butter" and using carrot juice to give it colour.
Oh happy days days indeed.
We never went hungry and we never lacked clothes and we were happy.

Hi Lowroader,

Be political in this case if you want,the "Marshall Plan" is a historical fact, this is one time when the loser always wins. Like all who grew up during the second world war,rationing was very much a part of my life. I remember my Mother swapping certain coupons for others, I don't know which ones,but I know in our street it seemed to be the thing to do. Do you or Donald remember the baby clubs were we got orange juice and some kind of malt?. Anyway I can recall our next door neighbour having a liking for the orange juice, she always gave us something in exchange, her family were all grown-ups, and as there where four of us we had plenty of juice to go round.

By the way I still have my ration book.

Beano

I am pretty sure that "that some kind of malt" was cod liver oil flavoured. I used to buy a jar of it every time I went back to Lisburn from here. I wonder if you can still get it. I would almost kill for a jar. On the favorite holiday spots, I feel almost deprived as I have never been to Omeath. I remember a bus trip or two to Dundalk. That was when I lived down Millbrook. Anybody remember "Dales" house across from the lane to the Island mill? It became a set of 4 flats about 1949-50. The grounds were called Rosedale or something like that. You could access the bottom of Wilson street if you went through thr=e little maze on the grounds. Somehow or other I remember this is where Jack McMaster's old horse grazed. The old Kilrush graveyard was our preteen playground. It had a big rope swing over the wee race. Anybody else remember these things?

I remember the Orange juice concentrate ,cod liver oil tablets and tins of dried milk, obtainable at the Clinic beside the Infirmary. I hated the cod liver oil,, at the beginning it had to be taken from a spoon UGH, later in tablet form. The orange juice was good, but the most fun was had from the empty dried milk tins, we punched holes in the side , and either tied them to our feet with string or made handles from string and walked about on them.
Donald

I well remember the cod liver oil flavoured malt and all the other things referred too. My favourite was dried egg powder- I loved it.
Was anyone else subjected to the Senna Pod Tea torture? There was also a concoction involving molasses and sulphur, or does my aged brain play tricks with me? And who can forget Kali Water from McLennans when you were ill? Things seemed to work on the basis that, if it tasted horrible, it must be doing you good.

low roader your,re dead right about the marshal plan for germany and uk paying the huge debt for years.
i ,m not political either but at that time in the late fifties and sixties germany was held up as the manufacturing shining star. they were using brand mew tooling and machinery given free by the americans the uk was using clapped out machinery and tooling used 24 hours a day seven days a week to achieve what they did never a mention made of that?

anyhow i,ll be looking in when possible and maybe add my tuppence worth if i can find a stray computer. i,m heading for a lot of months to queensland in the tropics to gold coast or surfers paradise as it,s called? so life,s a ball

good luck tom

Senna pods were soaked overnight ( "stept " as we called it in Hilden )in boiling water and taken as a laxative before breakfast. Boils and infected cuts were handled with a bread poultice or lint covered with a type of oiled silk to draw the pus. Sore ears were treated with a spoonfull of oil, heated over the fire and poured into the affected ear and as already mentioned here whooping cough by children was cured in the Gasworks by being held for a short time in the gas chamber. Nettle champ was also served in spring, I don,t know why , the nettles were collected at the witch hole near Lambeg. Loss of appetite was cured by eating a portion of dried Ling fish from Elmores. Our neighbour Mrs Lyness in Hilden was much in demand as she was able to " charm " away warts and eye complaints called " Styes" by holding her wedding ring on the affected part. If you said " Thanks " then the charm didn,t work.
Donald

Hi again Donald,

I remember being taken to Mrs Lyness to have two warts "charmed" off, it must have worked, they went away and never came back. People here in Canada laugh at us at some of the things we tell them we did back then and I can't explain it ..........

Beano

Iloved the dried eggs and they were great for baking with ,we also have our ration books also our gas mask ,i remember going to Omeath with my grannie Patterson buying sugar she hid it under our coats and warned us not to say anything to the customs it was such a tiny row boat that we went across on i know i was terrifed ,my mother mashed up parnsip;s put banana essense in it then spread it on our bread and told us we were eating banana sandwiches Renee

I remember those dried powdered eggs, they came in a purple can. I hated those things and could not eat eggs for years to come. Sometimes on a Saturday Mom would go to Dunkalk on a misson for sugar and various other things that were rationed. Somehow we all survived, and that is what it was, mere survival. But on the bright side, just think of all the memories we can share. Sylvia.