What effects did the Second World War have on the lives of ordinary people in Sheffield between 1939-1945?

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Catherine Ravensdale 10T                Rough Draft

What effects did the Second World War have on the lives of ordinary people in Sheffield between 1939-1945?

The Second World War lasted for a dreadful six years. It had a massive effect on ordinary people in Sheffield. These affects were mainly due to the bombing raids. This made people to become homeless, so people may have lived on the streets. There were 40,000 people who were reported homeless, 3,000 houses were damaged and also 3,000 houses, which were demolished. Several other issues affected people in many ways there was home life, personal life, and work life and leisure time. These effects include many things.

 Home life had been deeply affected during the war. During the war people had been forced out of their homes due to air-raid attacks. After the bombings the houses were either demolished or damaged.

Rationing was the main area, which affected home life. Rationing and shortages made a huge difference to what people ate, worn and owned and even what they grew in their gardens. Rationing was necessary because the rich could buy the food since they had the money to do so. For families it meant that the amounts of food available were shared out equally between the rich and poor. Women’s lives became an endless round of queuing for scarce supplies, trying to create meals from unchanged ingredients. “The Jerries even bombed the local chip shop. With the food on ration… few pleasures available without having to produce coupons.”(Sheffield Blitz.)  

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This is a table to show what the rations people were allowed: -

Dig for victory was started by the government to get people to grow their own fruit and vegetables. The government told people that it would be better for them because they wouldn’t be queuing at shops or for food. People grew their own fruit and vegetables in public places even allotments. People used every spare place to grow them.

Clothes were also rationed in June 1941. Each person got 66 coupons a year. But in 1942 this was reduced to 48. Manual workers and ...

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