大象传媒

I was 13 when war broke out and began war work when I was 14. I worked at the Integral in Witney, making hydraulic pumps for Spitfires and Hurricanes.

We were picked up in Clanfield at 7.30am by coach and did not return till 8pm. I wore dungarees and my hair had to be tied up in a turban because of the machinery.We carried our gas masks with us and, like evrybody else, we carried identity cards everywhere.I took a pack lunch, but there was also the option of eating in the canteen. Also, in the middle of the morning, a snack trolley came around selling bread and dripping which was lovely!

We had to clock on at the start of the day and if you were three minutes late, you lost half an hour's pay, so sometimes, if you had one that would, you could get a friend to clock on for you-which was cheating!

We were on piece work which meant that we had to get so much work done in a certain time. The work was boring and monotonous.

I can remember that, in my first week, I earned 15 shillings (75p)and I felt like a millionaire and so, to celebrate, I bought my dad a small bottle of brandy!

There was always a happy atmosphere at work, with singsongs and chat, despite the fact that it was noisy. There were all sorts of people working together,women and men who were not able to join the forces for one reason or another.

There was one day, however, when we had a disagreement with the foreman, I forget over what now, which resulted in some of us being called into his office. I remember him saying to us that all we were fit for was "sitting behind a dung heap picking daisies!"-charming!

On the coach home we used to sing all the popular songs of the day and war songs,to keep morale high.

Often we would go home, get washed, and go out again to dances at the local air bases, of which there were alot around. I used to bike home in the dark, as we had no other mode of transport, but we enjoyed ourselves and didn't really appreciate that there was a war on, other than the rationing. Also, the war became more apparent to us when my brothers left home to join the forces.

My clothes were mainly made of curtaining material, which was easier to get hold of than dress fabrics. Underwear, also, was created from real silk parachute material, if you could get it, because other material was rationed, restricted by the introduction of clothing coupons.

We had a radio, but it was driven by an accumulator, which was a kind of charged up battery. It was the only way of hearing war news as it came in because, obviously, there was no television.We also listened to Tommy Hanely and his show called ITMA, which was comedy. There was also Henry Hall's Band, which played dance music, as well as Vera Lynn, Anne Shelton and Bing Crosby.

When I dressed up to go out, we wore calf-length skirts with a blouse and a page boy hair style, kept in place with combs.Nylon stockings were rationed and so, the first pair I can remember having was when I was married.Before that I wore silk stockings with a seam up the back, when I could get them.As far as make-up was concerned we had Pond's face cream, face powder and lip stick, which was often very red,as was fashionable.

We didn't have many magazines to read,as there was a shortage of paper, and there was precious little time to read anyway, but I do remember one called "Picture Post", although I never had one myself.

When I was working at the Integral, every so often we were allowed to leave early. Sometimes we chose to go to the cinema and pay six pence to watch a film, of which we rarely saw the end as the bus usually came before the end of the picture.You were however, not permitted to enter the cinema without a gas mask. To get around this problem, many people chose to go down to Woolworths, which is still there, and purchase a gas mask case, to fool any attendants!

Although times were hard, we managed to enjoy ourselves during the war.

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