Interview with Eric Smith by Vicky Macdonald

Description

Short interview conducted by Vicky MaCdonald during the ‘Longest Yarn’ with visitors that shared personal memories and family stories in reaction to the exhibition. The Longest Yarn exhibition was a month-long tribute to the War Effort behind the D-Day Landings of 1944 - displaying a 3D tapestry depicting D-Day in 80 panels – was held at the Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno (October 2–27, 2024).

Eric Smith, born in 1936, recalls his childhood during WWII. His family lived in a remote stone house on the Pennines without an air raid shelter, taking cover under the table when bomb sirens sounded. Two bombs fell nearby, creating craters but causing no fatalities. His father, working in a textile mill producing military uniforms, was in a reserved occupation, exempt from conscription but active in the Auxiliary Fire Service at night. His mother stayed home to care for him. Post-war, Eric remembers seeing unfamiliar foods, like sausages and bananas, which highlighted wartime shortages in rural Britain.