大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by Wendy Edwards from Horsham Library and has been added to the website on behalf of Peter Lindfield with his permission and he fully understands the site's terms and conditions".
My first job after leaving school was with a firm of instrument makers in Great Queen Street, Holborn and I travelled there on the underground from my home in Dagenham.I worked every day except Sunday and I had to be at work by 8 o clock. Every day was an adventure because people who had been sheltering from the previous nights air raids were still sleeping on the station platforms. The smell of breakfast and toast being prepared was also in the air and so on my way from the station to work I would stop and have a cup of tea at one of the WVS road side canteens.I had to be careful to step over hose pipes as the firemen were still tackling fires and I also had to avoid bomb craters.
My second job was as an apprentice to W E Gains & Sons, a small private printers and stationers in Eldon Street near Liverpool Street Station. My job was to deliver the printed stationery around the City, not an easy task during the blackout without street lights and with the traffic only allowed shrouded lights! On one of my delivery rounds I heard the distinctive noise of a flying bomb above my head and when I looked up, it appearred to be heading straight towards the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. I laid down flat on the ground to avoid the blast but it must actually have come down somewhere in Bow or Commercial Road, so I was able to continue with my delivery, although a little shaken.
On one of my delivery trips to The Law Courts I noticed a job advertisement for a vacancy in the drawing office of Lawrence, Jacobs and Tydeman. I duly applied, was accepted and began work as a junior draughtsman/tracer in Breams Building, Chancery Lane. The work consisted of tracing and drawing scale maps on the Deeds of property which was interesting.I was also given the job of drawing in the colours of the complete fuel and electrical systems for a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. This was because I was also studying for my ONC in engineering at South East Essex Technical College at the same time. However,I was still on the lowest rung of the ladder and I did not like being ordered to leave what I was doing in order to fetch and carry so I decided to leave.
My next job was with a company of mining engineers called Cardox GB Ltd/ Bewick Moreing Ltd. This firm was located in Copthal Avenue, London Wall and there were just thre of us in the engineering department. My duties were to keep records of the workings and quality of the ore from gold mines in South Africa and Australia. I also worked on designing a new system of blasting coal with CO2 compressed into a shell.
One day I was told that I had to go to the Clock face Colliery in St Helens, Lancashire in order to train other people in the use of the Cardox system of blasting. Mining was considered an occupation of national importance but I did not like working underground. Although I visitd a number of pits and the people were very friendly I was
unhappy living away from home and so I left. This caused a bit of a problem because mining was a reserved occupation and my employment papers could not be released. Still,I managed to return to Dagenham where I continued my engineering studies, but I still had to earn some money as my parents could not afford to keep me without any income.
The jobs I tried during this time only lasted a few weeks. I worked as a labourer, clearing away rubble and debris caused by the bombs. I worked for Springcotts in Dagenham, forming cockpits and instrument panels for fighter planes. I also made parachutes and spring seats and beds for the forces. In conclusion,by far the worst job I ever had was working on the assembly line at Briggs Bodies. This was a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and the line I worked on assembled staff cars for the Army.

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