Oral history recording of Ellen Mitchell (Sainsbury's customer)

Audio recording of oral history interview of Mrs Ellen Mitchell, born 1898. Mrs Mitchell was 100 years old and was a shopper at Sainsbury's stores in Winton and Watford. Interview by an unidentified male interviewer.

Summary of content:
133_A Sainsbury customer Watford 1931. Butter, cheese, margarine and lard. 1d 3 per pound. Margarine 6pence. Daughter age 6 used to do shopping as the interviewee had to work. Husband left her with 3 children. Lived in as cook at guest house. Boscombe Sainsbury supplied the hotel with food. Food availability. Blocks of butter, chop it up and pat it with wooden blocks. Bought pound of butter every week. 100 years old. Husband left her in 1930. Poor law tickets for food but not for Sainsbury's. Went to shop opposite with food tickets for tea, porridge and cereals. [discussing photographs] Would go to Watford Market on Saturday night for items sold off cheap, shoulder of lamb. Unable to afford any more. Half eight at night. Shops included Lipton's, MacFisheries, International c.1946. Serviced shops. Much better. Lived in Dulwich when first married in 1922. Then moved to Brixton. Then moved to Watford. Then lived in Stanmore during Second World War. Doodle bugs. Open space in Stanmore. Firewatch once a week. Woken at 6 am Sunday morning with noise of doodle bugs. Horrible experience. Insisted daughters go in shelters. Oldest daughter went into RAF HQ in Stanmore. Second daughter joined the army aged 17 and half. Wanted to be a transport driver but was put in cook house. Youngest daughter's school closed but got job in laundry in Harrow. Food and rationing. Grew vegetables in garden. Daughter married RAF man in Scotland. Eldest and youngest daughter married in Stanmore church. Wedding cake. Youngest daughter's experiences of marriage. Granddaughter. One of 13 children. Family background. [talking about photographs] Husband's experiences of returning from First World War. 1953 eldest daughter and husband emigrated to New Zealand due to housing shortages. Sister is 102. Worked hard all her life. Couldn't afford poultry. Always served in the shop. Recalls seeing "contraption on wheels" in 1906 on way home from school. Left school age 12 to help mother at home. Age 13 worked in local doctors.