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This story has been contributed to the People's War by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning Centre, Gloucester, on behalf of Clare Smith with her permission.

I was 13 when war broke out and I lived in what is now Mill Lane but was then known as Church Lane in Cranham, near Painswick.

At 18 one could be ‘called up’ but I volunteered to join the Observer Corps and trained to be a ‘plotter’ in the Ops Room of 24 Group which was based in the old Spread Eagle Hotel in Gloucester. This meant I could live at home.

I either rode my bicycle into Gloucester or we had an excellent bus service between Painswick and Gloucester (unlike today!). When I took the bus I got off at ‘Madam’s Wood’ when returning home, particularly after night duty. It was delicious to breathe in the fresh air after all that passive smoking, as it is now called, from the ‘fags’ and pipes and all brands of tobacco that the men we worked alongside smoked.

One morning, starting up over the Beacon track, I thought I was seeing things for I was sure a bush had moved up and down. Then a whole swathe of long, dry grass moved around. Then another bush seemed to rise and move then settle down again. I kept walking. SOMEONE was playing tricks. But a few more steps on, an Army officer stepped out of a quarry and halted my progress. Who was I? Where had I come from? Where was I going? Had I got my identification card? By this time he was joined by a lot more Army types decorated, or should I say, camouflaged, with various forms of natural growth, all smiling but barring my route home.

Eventually I was able to persuade them that I was NOT a spy sent by ‘the other group’ to get through their defences but the officer accompanied me all the way over the hill where he stood and waited until I was out of sight. I simply could NOT tell that the whole British Camp was crowded with Army personnel out on manoeuvres. They were gone next morning.

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