Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2008/January 2009 | Page 46

life

THE ISLAND AT WAR 1939 - 1945

Keep Smiling
Through
We look at different aspects of the war which took place on the island
from 1939 - 1945. By June Elford

In the first four months of the war a total of 4,133 people were
killed on the roads and 2,657 of these were pedestrians.

In 1939 a wireless set, made
either of wood or Bakelite, was
often the central feature in th e
living-rooms of most homes in
Britain. But on 1 September
the British Broadcasting
Corporation closed down its
regional services and reduced
them to a single synchronised
output. For the rest of the
war, every programme began
with the words, “This is the
BBC Home Service”.
At the same time all theatres,
cinemas and music halls were
closed and football matches
were forbidden. People were
told to listen regularly to the
BBC news broadcasts, to carry
a gas mask and their identity
card everywhere, green for
adults and brown for those
under sixteen.
These were some of the

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many changes that people in
Britain came to accept as part
of everyday life. Buildings
were blacked out, illuminated
signs and advertisements were
turned off and street lighting
extinguished. Cars, buses
and trams had to mask their
headlights – even essential
vehicles such as fire engines,
ambulances and police
cars had to conform to the
restrictions.
Only a tiny crescent of
light was allowed on the
headlights. Some drivers used
cardboard discs or pulled an
old sock over side and rear
lights, dashboard lights were
forbidden and the plastic
indicator arm showed a slit
of light. Drivers found it
especially difficult during the
hours of blackout when they

couldn’t see to check their
speedometers but were limited
to a maximum speed of 20
mph in built-up areas.
Car owners had to paint
a white stripe along their
bumpers or mudguards and
because motorists often
hugged the white line painted
along the centre of the
road, cars going in opposite
directions came perilously
close to each other. An ARP
log book at the Isle of Wight
County Record Office records
that 500 gallons of white road
marking enamel was ordered
by the council on 23 August
1939 and six road marking
machines cost seventy pounds.
Council workers in East and
West Wight started to paint
the lines on the roads with
daily reports from the surveyor

on their progress. By the 13th
of September Shanklin had
completed10 ½ miles of white
lines on class 1 and class 11
roads though it was decided
that East Wight should add
two miles of white lines to its
quota while West Wight would
do the corners.
Throughout Britain
pedestrians were walking along
the white line in the dark to get
their bearings and in the first
four months of the war a total
of 4,133 people were killed on
the roads and 2,657 of these
were pedestrians – figures that
showed it was more dangerous
to be on the roads than in the
Armed Forces!
Shelters, like the public brick
shelter on the Mall in Newport
that was built to accommodate
200 people and the school

The Island's new funky radio station www.wightfm.com