FIFERS’ MEMORIES of the home front at wartime have been published in a special book commissioned by Fife Council libraries.

Cardboard Wedding Cakes is a collection of stories told by local people who lived through the second world war.

It is the result of a £19,000 lottery-funded project, Home Front Recall, by Fife libraries.

At a series of wartime-style concerts, cookery demonstrations and tea dances across the region, library staff recorded people’s reminiscences.

Now they have been brought together by Chris Neale in the book, which will go on sale in libraries on Thursday.

It is a mixture of poignant and funny stories, and accounts of everyday life during the war.

The book takes its name from the common wartime practice of using cardboard wedding cakes instead of the real thing because of the shortage of sugar.

It will also be followed by a DVD and a children’s book, entitled Blackouts, Bombs and Bananas.

Information services librarian Janet Klak, who co-ordinated Home Front Recall, said, “We collected the stories and Chris Neale went through them and pulled them together into a coherent book.

“There are stories about blackouts, rationing, make-do and mend, the Polish soldiers who came over, prisoners of war and air raid shelters.

“A lot of people who came forward had some sort of story about dried eggs. One person told us her mother had won two eggs in a competition at school and had had to be escorted home because eggs were so precious.

“Another told us her mother made knickers out of flour bags, so she had the word ‘flour’ printed across her rear end.”

The book will provide a permanent record of the experiences of the people of Fife who lived through the war.

Mrs Klak said, “The local perspective is very important and it is important to remind today’s generations that these people went through a very extraordinary time.

“Because of restrictions, these things weren’t reported in the newspapers at the time and they are only coming out now.

“These books and the DVD will go into local collections and libraries for posterity so there will always be this record.

“It was important to do it now because these people are getting old and we have already lost a lot of memories.”

Cardboard Wedding Cakes has an initial print run of 2000 copies.

Mrs Klak said, “It will appeal to a wide range of people—obviously the people who have given us their stories but also the younger generations of their families. For a lot of them this will be the first time they have heard these stories.”

Mr Neale is also an information services librarian, based in Dunfermline, and has a background in local history.