大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Radio Newcastle on behalf of Joan Routledge and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Routledge fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

I lived and worked in London all through the war. I was 19 years old when the war started, working as a machinist on army great coats in Bishopsgate. Our house in Highbury wasn't fit for a shelter as from 1 to 8 was built over a tunnel, so it was pot luck during the blitz. We slept on the floor, well I did - mum was terrified and would go in anywhere for shelter. Dad was in the Red Cross and was on duty at the Aldwich tube so mostly it was the dog and I indoors. I was called up at 20, one of the first batch of females. When I registered I was told that I was too small for nursing, too light for the land army; I was 6 stone, had no office experience, no use to the Wrens, in the finish I was drafted to the local poly to train as an engineer. After a months training was given a choice of three places, one at Ilford, one at Brewery Road for 1d an hour, one at Barnsbury for 1/- an hour, so I went with a sample of my training to the shadow factory at Barnsbury. I could walk home from there, it used to be a bar fitters. Got the job, worked a lathe, fine limits -1/10 of a thousand part of an inch, sixty hours a week at least. Very little sleep because of air raids, very little to eat at home, but reasonable food in the works canteen. I loved the work, dirty soaked in soluble oil within five minutes of starting work, the old boys gave us girls a hard time, offered a pinch of snuff as routine, but I got used to the atmosphere and enjoyed it after a while. Most of the men were old bar fitters brought out of retirement, one lived on the isle of sheppy, came up to Barnsbury every day; marvellous.

When sleeping on the floor at home we could hear the men in the tunnel shouting orders to the men on the naval gun that went in and out of the tunnel, and when the jerries came over, out it went, you could hear it going out on the rails, then came an almighty "bang" as it fired. It never hit anything, I think it was just a morale booster. At the start of the war we hadn't had any shelter, we were issued with two sandbags and a stirrup pump, so as I had to do fire watching of a night off I used to run, with my steel helmet on, my gas mask and the pump, ready to put out any fires that started in the wood yard at the bottom of the street. When it was all over and things got back to normal i stayed on at W H Heaths making engines, then in 1948 married Billy Routledge, the foreman's son, had fifty two lovely years together before he died. Now I live up here in South Moor next door to my daughter as my son died and left me alone in Essex. I am used to it now but found it very strange at first. I still have a job with the accent, but am grateful to have my Katie next door and to have reached the age of 85 with a memory like an elephant's, so I'm told.

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