Morale, Make do and Mend

Abstract

During the Occupation, the spirit of ‘Make do and Mend’ flourished in the Channel Islands, and developed in much the same way as it did in mainland Britain where, fortunately for the population, the shortages did not become so acute. Islanders repaired their clothes until there was no longer any new cloth or cotton, and even the Reverend Ord felt called upon at one point to comment that ‘a man must go in fear of his trousers’. Medical supplies were also in short supply until they ran out altogether in 1944, and repairs of bicycle tyres were effected through substituting garden hose or rope, with shoes being totally irreplaceable except by bartering for second hand, or settling for some kind of clogs. Most writers agree that times were indeed hard. Alan and Mary Seaton Wood gave a good summary of conditions in their general history, and Peter King another more detailed account in his 1991 publication, in a chapter aptly headed: ‘The Wretchedness of Everyday Life’. Other publications by the Islanders themselves are also very informative, but one often gets the impression that some of the old wartime stoicism has remained with authors such as Dr John Lewis, since many hardships he suffered are largely hidden behind amusing Occupation stories.

It makes sense to distinguish popular memory (as reflected for example in the media, newspapers, aural histories, memoirs …) from official memory (as expressed in ceremonies and leaders speeches.) Public memory is the battlefield on which these two compete for hegemony.¹

History and Memory Journal, 12.2