´óÏó´«Ã½

When I was about fourteen and I was an apprentice at Spooners, the biggest store, at that time, in Plymouth.

War broke out and I remember, we always had for the senior assistants, long gowns almost like an evening gown with a train and we were taught as young apprentices (with a short dress) how to ‘kick’ the train when the time came for us to be an adult.

But through the war and having to run to the lower basement, which would double up as an air raid shelter for the staff, the long gowns were dispensed with and never resumed again. So although I was an apprentice, I would have in due course worn a long gown so I never had the privilege of wearing one. My short gown was navy blue with a little white collar.

All the staff used to bring into work, things from home that they didn’t want. A nd we would all buy what we fancied from it. The money raised would go towards a Spitfire and we did in fact gain enough money at Spooners, to buy a whole Spitfire. We were all very proud to achieve that and Miss Gilpin, who used to work in the Furs Department, (I worked in the Mantle’s Department which today we would say Coats and Raincoats Department) had a letter of thanks - for organising the collection for a Spitfire.

I was indentured as a show room assistant. My mother paid forty pounds premium for me to learn how to become a Showroom Assistant and also a ‘Buyer’, which meant I only ever dealt with fashions. I didn’t have to go on the ground floor- serving.

I could have learnt Hairdressing for thirty pounds, but I could never stand the smell of the perming solution. When the war progressed and the bombing became far worse, Spooners was brought to the ground amongst other big name stores in the City Centre so we moved to Mutley Plain into a temporary building.

Dingles also had a temporary building too - just off Mutley Plain and Spooners had to amalgamate the staff and try to find ‘staff who had not reported into the Guild Hall and get them together to work in temporary premises. These temporary premises were in fact, several small shops, one was in Drake Circus which was really a motor show room, Mumfords I think and it had two storeys — that was the main temporary building for Spooners and there were two more, branching off streets in Drake Circus.

I had my friend Rita Moore, whose husband to be, George, taken as a Prisoner Of War. Rita who was a very tall lovely girl lost a considerable amount of weight worrying over him. Rita and I were given addresses to go to and were sent along. One address was over the Embankment and we were so tired with walking, that I was nearly stepping on people under a sheet. This was where the house had been bombed and all the people were lying dead underneath white sheets. The ARP and ambulances were surrounding them. And because I was so tired I stumbled and nearly fell on top of these white sheets but Rita just caught me in time. I remember how much it terrified me.

We did eventually find the address we had to go to, and then because we were so very tired we just went home. My mother was very cross about this, because she thought I should not have been sent on such a journey, at such a young age. I never forgot it.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.