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This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer (Rachel Irven) from Three Counties action, on behalf of Mary Dell, and has been added to the site with her permission. Mary Dell fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

During the war (I was aged about 5 at the start of the war), we lived in Wycombe Marsh.
My mother was a great cook, and it upset her that she did not have the ingredients to make cakes. One day she collected me, my two sisters and my dad (who had served in the First World War but was too old for the Second), round the kitchen table and issued an ultimatum.
“You can either have sugar in your tea, or home made cake!�
We three girls loved her Farmhouse cake, so we opted for ‘cake’, (and I have never had sugar in my tea since) but dad said he could not give up his sugar in his tea. My sisters and I were a bit put out when we found out later that he had sugar in his tea AND he also ate the cake.
Mind you, he was entitled to it, as he grew vegetables for all of us and kept chickens which provided eggs for us and the rest of the street.
I remember I was often sent out on errands down the street to swap a packet of tea for sugar or butter.
I am told that Wycombe Marsh used to be a rough area, but I remember it as a child, as a village surrounded by woods, trees and lovely neighbours. The Village Policeman patrolled on his bike and we were all in awe of him!

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