Huron Expositor, 2015-11-11, Page 3World War 11 stories from the Seaforth Manor
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
In the Seaforth Manor,
there are two elderly women
who lived a rather compara-
ble existence during the
toughest times of World
War II.
In the retirement home
there is only a floor that sep-
arates both of the natives of
England and to date both
never knew they had such
similar histories.
"I have not spoken to her
much, I have to get to talking
to her. I didn't even know
about her until the begin-
ning of this week," said San-
dra Pilkington with a blanket
wrapped around her legs at
her bed.
Dora Stewart, 85, is a stair-
case away from Pilkington.
Both of these ladies had
traveled thousands of kilom-
eters many years ago, to bet-
ter themselves in the land of
Canada. They were unaware
of how parallel their lives
have been. The comparisons
of the Brits are as followed:
-Moved to Canada with
their husbands to the
Toronto area in the 1950s.
- Both ladies worked with
the elderly, Mrs. Pilkington
was employed by the Maple-
wood Manor in Seaforth and
Mrs. Stewart worked at a
nursing home in the Toronto
region.
-Pilkington was born in
Blackpool, England and
Stewart was a native to Card-
ington, England, the two
towns are three hours away
from each other.
-They went through the
same struggles of hunger
along with many other con-
flicts during the Second
World War.
These Englanders may
have shared similar stories,
grew up hours apart from
each other and are now
dwelling in the same retire-
ment facility, but the way of
life back then was different
for all those stuck in the inter-
national conflict. According
to the National Geographic,
World War II lasted from
1939-1945. The war that took
the lives of approximately
40-50 million civilians world-
wide made it one of the dead-
liest battles known to man.
For Stewart she recollects
the era as being "scarce"
especially for food, most
things were small rations.
The majority ate dried eggs,
dehydrated milk and brown
bread.
"It wasn't brown bread it
was dirty bread because
ri
It wasn't brown bread it was dirty bread
because everything went to the forces,"
— Stewart said
everything went to the
forces," Stewart said in her
room that was plastered with
photographs and all her per-
sonal memorabilia.
She remembers having to
trick her father into eating a
piece of whale meat. Stewart
and her mother roasted it
like it was that of pork or
beef. The meat was small
because she said each per-
son generally received a
serving of about two ounces.
"What kind of meat is this,"
her father replied.
"It's supposed to be a
pretty good cut," Stewart's
mother said.
Knowing that the meat
was far from their usual ani-
mal protein, she and her
mother snickered amongst
themselves.
"It smells fishy to me," said
her father.
Those were the things
families had to do "to make
ends meet. If they had pine-
apple juice they would fill
the cans with turnips to pass
off as portions of pineapple
she said.
Pilkington, 77, lived with
both her grandparents and
her twin sister at the time,
seeing as her mother worked
in an ammunition factory
and her father was enlisted
in the navy. Her family also
survived off of rations, Pilk-
ington's grandfather had a
small garden. The army
would come to obtain their
daily allowance leaving the
family with one potato each.
Her grandfather was given
the "biggest potato."
"They came and took eve-
rything, you had to feed the
soldiers," Pilkington told the
Expositor November 6.
When the four would
gather at meal time her
grandfather being the bread
winner would eat first. If he
wanted two pieces of bread
that's what he would receive,
seeing as he was the primary
source of support, said
Pilkington.
"There were only two
pieces between the four of
us," Pilkington explained.
Although food grew to be
a problem, bombs also
became a setback for the
English people as it was a
given that they would be
dropped daily. There was
also the threat of spies enter-
ing England to acquire infor-
mation. Because of that,
every citizen was required to
wear identification to travel
so the soldiers knew who
you were or if you went miss-
ing. To this day, Stewart has
her ID numbers memorized.
"DQEV665", Stewart
recalled the numbers with
ease. She said they were also
required to bring gas masks
when going for errands.
When Stewart was asked,
do you remember the
bombs, she giggled and sim-
ply said, "oh yeah."
"It's difficult to explain, at
the beginning everybody ran
for the shelter, but as the
time went on, we sort of
shrugged it off. It didn't
worry (us) so much. You got
used to it," said Stewart while
looking for her old ID card
inside her bachelor apart-
ment in the retirement sec-
tor of the Seaforth Manor.
Whenever there was the
possibility of bombs or an
invasion, several alert calls
Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor
Dora Stewart shows her hand-
crafted Cinderella doll and an
English poppy at the Seaforth
Manor November 5.
were sent out during the day
which could reach upwards
of 4-5 times throughout the
evening. After moving to
Seaforth several years back,
Pilkington took notice of the
town's fire alarm that goes
off throughout Seaforth. It is
meant to alert the volunteer
firemen as well as inform the
citizens that the fire depart-
ment is tending to an emer-
gency situation. The loud
piercing sound can be heard
from several kilometers
away. This brought Pilking-
ton back to the war days.
"The alarm went off, I just
freaked and I (dove under-
neath) the table," stated
Pilkington.
Those days of World War II
were more than 70 year ago
for the two Englanders. Cur-
rently Pilkington is battling
some health issues and
Stewart will be turning
86 -years -old on Remem-
brance Day.
"Food became scarce, we
were on rations. Apart from
regular life, it didn't change
much. We were kids. We
played and went to school,"
Stewart said.
ea orthhuronex.ositor.co
South Easthope Mutual
Insurance Company
O
mut not'
0
FALL/WINTER HOURS
X
s=
Monday 8:30 - 4:30 Tuesday 8:30 - 4:30
se
Wednesday by appointment only
o Thursday 8:30 - 4:30 Friday 8:30 - 4:30
For Service Call: 519-348-4744
Toll Free:1-866-887-8801
Wednesday, November 11, 2015 • Huron Expositor 3
From left, Andy Phillips who created the crosses free of charge,
Rick Fortune the poppy chair for the Royal Canadian Legion in
Seaforth, Pat DeJong president of the Royal Canadian Legion
in Seaforth and Shane Kyle who also volunteered his time in
the building of the crosses for no charge. These crosses may
look similar to the wooden ones built before, but they are much
different being mostly fiberglass.
Contributed
Food bank fundraises $1600
Special to the Expositor
On October 18 the Dream
Team of First Presbyterian
Church hosted the West
Perth Community Singers
under the direction of Ed
Havenga in a concert for
their annual fall Seaforth
and Area Food bank Fund-
raiser. The audience enjoyed
an evening of music with a
wide variety of musical
selections. A time of fellow-
ship with refreshments was
enjoyed after the concert. A
free will offering was
received with all proceeds of
the offering given to the
Food bank, this enjoyable
evening of music raised
$1600.00 for the Food bank.
Huron County Publ i c Ile -alai Professional Day
November 16. 2015
1/id you know the 1Iurom County I Icalth 1snit has
17 pzufussions winking to keep you. healthy and safer
Actrr?irPi•rtration firgfps ian.00 • 'ommaxr?icptrr n$ peci+, irfn
CFA 1faiurrt r: r r Coordirrotar - Cammunidy Oeveioper
Dermull AssOstant _ Dental Hyglerhist - DieriVor,
Eprderralalog!st - Graphic Des.igner -Parent Resource Visitor -
PJiyrsicawrr - Public Health inspector - Public Health Nurse re -
Public Health Promoter - Plumber - Program Evaluator -
Pvo °r or7r Sop rr rt
Thanks for all you di. w prevent injury and disease,
pram tc wellness. anti protout health]
ren
: I: ht ! .111..0-1, .11,1
- Juran Caerastyr ord. of Hoolth —