I don't know why I missed this thread before but I grew up during the war and I never remember going hungry, there was six of us and my mother ensured we always had a breakfast, cooked dinner every night, and always a roast dinner on Sundays followed by a pudding. Nothing was ever wasted, mom worked at Hercules and would buy a dinner from the canteen, but if there was a pudding she would bring it home in a basin to share. I can remember running down to stand in the queue to save a place for my mother if news went round that there was tomatoes, or fruit on sale at Griffins in Newtown Row. Expectant mothers were given priority in the queues. I didn't taste ice cream until just after the war, I had chicken pox and was confined to the house, but a neighbour Mrs. Clark bought me a home made ice cream from the brown tiled cafe opposite Burlington Hall in High Street, Aston.