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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Sarah Housden of Norfolk Adult Education’s reminiscence team on behalf of Doreen Kilburn and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

At the start of the war I lived in Salford near Manchester and was doing First Aid from my own home. We didn’t always have an awful lot of food and sometimes got by on bread and marge. We grew greens in our garden to supplement our diet, but the garden was only small so we didn’t grow much else.

Eventually I was called up and had the choice of working in a munitions factory or going into the forces. I chose the forces, and went into the army where I did office work. For part of the war I was based in South Wales, and part of my work was to deal with secret messages which I had to decode and then pass on to other places nearby. I was very happy there for nearly two years, but then I got moved on to Cardiff.

I met Stan at my church in Salford. He was in the RAF but couldn’t fly because he had poor eyesight. Although I was in the army I volunteered to do some work with the RAF in the hope that I would be nearer to Stan, but we were based in different places. Eventually we were able to spend more time together and after going to a few dances we fell deeply in love and decided to get married. We got married in Salford during the war. For my bridal gown, my mother bought some white material and made a dress. Stan wore his uniform.

It was difficult to see each other after we got married, with us both being in the forces. I was disappointed not to be with Stan in the RAF, but it was wonderful when we both got a few days leave at the same time. We would use our leave to go and visit relatives or to go hiking in the Lake District. Sometimes we would walk 10 — 12 miles together, just enjoying each other’s company. Stan’s father worked on the railways and he would always let us know about the trains that were running, so we got about quite well.

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