AUTHOR Allan Hodgson takes a look back to life in the Millom he remembers in 1938 and the changes brought on by the Second World War.

Mr Hodgson grew up at the Rocks, near Hodbarrow iron ore mine and now lives at Workington.

He writes: “As a boy in Millom in 1938 not many ladies worked as there were very few jobs for them.

“The place for the majority was in the home doing all the chores and bringing up the kids.

“Exceptions were Millom nurses Pullen and Edmondson at Barrow hospital and midwife Waterhouse delivering babies at Millom. She had a bike with medical kit on its carrier.

“However in 1939 all that changed when the men folk were called up to the Forces and women filled their jobs.

“They also served in the Land Army and the Forces, like my wife Honor.

“There were only about six cars in the Millom area and for a trip to Barrow you used the train.

“When RAF Millom opened jeeps and vans arrived to provide transport to the railway station and to their ranges.

“The camp post van, with Betty Gary and Wyn Hornby aboard, always called for coffee at Mrs Caruthers’ Palladium bungalow.

“Jack Bennett’s taxi service was very popular, to and from the camp as the last Cumberland bus was 10pm. It was often driven by Billy High.

“Ribble buses, with conductor John Blezzard, ran on the hour to Ulverston.

“Steam locos filled up from the water tank at Millom railway station using a heavy leather hose.

“The guard would blow his whistle, wave his flag and off the loco went with heavy staccato chuffs.

“The 8pm Royal Mail Travelling Post office had a letterbox to post last-minute letters.

“Jim Brockbank, a reporter, would use it to post his last copy to the Barrow Mail.

“It was an express with a first stop at Barrow and then onwards to London Euston.

“At stations in-between mail in a bag on a post would be snatched in and sorted by the men inside.

“Holidays had always been for the better off folk and it was only in 1939, when I was an apprentice at Hodbarrow mines, that holidays with pay was introduced, bringing a further significant change.

“Picnics at the Hodbarrow Mains, the Rocks or Haverigg had been the norm for most.

“Now it was possible for folk to have a holiday. I recall my dad Harry, like lots more, bought weekly rail runabout tickets.

“There was very little crime and Police Sergeant Penn gave wrong doers a good slapping around the face with his leather gloves. “Murders, drugs and knife crime were unheard of, as was having a child outside of wedlock. Boy friends were often threatened by family to marry a pregnant girl.

“The Hodbarrow mines opened in the 1850s and closed in 1968, shortly followed by Millom Ironworks, throwing hundreds out of work.”

Mr Hodgson has written a series of books about his early life in the Millom area to raise money for several charities.

His book The Locos and Machinery of the Hodbarrow Mines, Millom is available from Millom Discovery Centre.