“During the war when food and luxuries were scarce, my mum wanted to give us a treat and bake us a Christmas cake. She had saved enough flour and sugar.

Eggs were not a problem because we had chickens, but she didn’t have any dried fruit.

As luck would have it and by sheer coincidence when the midwife came to see my baby brother who had been born on the 13th December 1941, she brought some currants and raisins for us. This saved the day, and we had our cake. I can’t remember what it was like, but I’m sure it tasted wonderful!”

Nancy Barnard
[WW2 People's War]

“My most vivid recollections are of the December 1940 Blitz over Manchester. I was 8 years old and looking forwards to Christmas. There had been many bombs exploding in our area in October 1940.

My parents John and Josephine Galway, decided to take my 76 year old Grandfather William Henry Corrigan and myself to stay with friends in Hayfield, Derbyshire. The friends, the Lavelle family, had a country cottage in Hayfield.

We left Stretford Rd, Old Trafford, in our little Morris 8 car. It was early evening just before Christmas 1940 as we travelled towards Hayfield that moonlit night. We could hear the planes over head. We had no luggage with us. We went as we were. On Christmas Eve my parents’ friends said my parents should go home and bring their Christmas presents and our little dog and spend Christmas with them. Grandfather and I waited for them to return.

When they did come back to Hayfield they had very sad news. My Grandfather’s house and our house which was next door had been hit by a land mine and there was just a big hole. The army were digging for us; they did not think there would be much hope of us all coming out alive. Our dog was killed, we had no furniture, no Christmas presents, no change of clothes, but we were all together and alive. My Grandfather never recovered from the shock, he caught pneumonia and died a month later. We went to live in Little Hayfield in a cottage until 1943 when we returned to Manchester.”

Irene Barlow
[WW2 People's War]

“In September 1944 our WAAF unit was sent to Normandy. We were there about ten days and then flew (about five at a time) in an Anson of 85 Group Communication Flight from Carpiquet (an airstrip close by) to Ghent in Belgium.

Our first Christmas in Belgium was bitterly cold and we had very little heating. Frost formed on our hair as we marched to the office in the morning. Some WAAF went to bed wearing their seaboot stockings! We had a dance in the local casino to thank the people of Ghent for their hospitality and also a Christmas party for the children when we distributed clothes which had been sent over from the U.K. for them.

Our Christmas lunch was very good, one of the best I have ever enjoyed, even though everything came out of a tin.”

Helena Noifeld
[WW2 People's War]

“I was three and a half years old when the war finished. I remember the Christmas after the war, my father – a staff sergeant and training officer – invited seven German prisoners to our home for Christmas dinner.

They all arrived in their uniforms and only one of them spoke English. I remember him trying to shoo me off to bed at 7pm, just like any other ordinary man. They were just the same as us really. I think after all those years of fighting my father felt sorry for them.

I was only three and a half but I remember it vividly. It shows it must have had quite an impact on me.”

Dereck Lester
[WW2 People's War]

WW2 People’s War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar