大象传媒

I was sixteen just after war was declared, so althiugh I was at a Grammar School and should have stayed on to do Higher School Certificate and my headmistress would have liked me to go to University, I felt I'd had enough of school. Our School certificate results had just come out and I had four Distinctions and four Credits, so surely I could find something interesting to do. However, this was not so easy; the country was not yet set up for war, after a decade of depression and was in a sort of Limbo, with air raid shelters half dug, sticky tape being applied to our windows to protect against blast and blackouts being devised. I had always wanted to be an actress and had arranged to have an interview at the local Repertory Company, but that all came to nothing , as , at first , all theatres and cinemas were closed. Next I applied to the Library, the Council House and the Telephone Exchange for a job, but no replies were forthcoming, so when I was offered the chance to be in a pantomime in Edinburgh as one of a troupe of junior dancers, all about my age and all ballet trained, I went for an audition and was accepted. Rehearsals were in Erdington, Birmingham and while I was waiting for the train on the first day, I met a medical student, who became a lifelong friend and who later introduced me to his best friend, many years later to become my husband.

The pantomime experience was interesting and exciting in its way, but I decided quite soon that I didn't really enjoy that sort of life, so when the show closed in January, I set off with some of my new friends to travel home on the train. What an adventure that turned out to be, as the whole of Britain was blanketed in snow and the train became stuck on the top of Shap Fell. The heating soon failed and our few sandwiches were soon eaten so we became dejected after about twentyfour hours, especially as we knew our parents would be worried and as few families had telephones in those days, it was difficult to contact them. We had seen a newspaper reort at a station on our slow progress south, so we knew they would be aware that we were having a bad time. At last I managed to call the corner shop near my home so that they could tell my parents roughly what time we should arrive. It was in the middle of the night, and there was my Dad, who had been trekking back and forth to the station for two days. There he was though and we walked the two miles home through the thick snow to lay my Mum's fears to rest.

After a few weeks in a boring office job at an aircraft factory, I was accepted to train as a telephonist at Coventry exchange. During training it seemed to me that I should never get the hang of it all and I could see telephone numbers in my sleep, but it soon became easy and routine-for a few months. Then came the Coventry Blitz. We had some raids before, but nothing like the all night bombardment on Nov. 14th. 1940. We girls didn't work nights, so during this noisy moonlight night, to my mother's horror, I seized the shovel and sand bucket with which our house had been equipped, and set off to try to find incendiary bombs to put out. There had been hundreds all over the city, but I found none and our house was unscathed, but nearby there was a huge land mine crater so we were lucky. Next morning,as usual, I met afriend to cycle into the city centre to work.What a shock, to see the ruined buildings, smell the awful burning smell and see houses torn in half with the furniture still in the half rooms like an opened up doll's house. The Central Library was still blazing, but worst of all, to us, was the sight of the Cathedral where we had been confirmed only a few years earlier, just a shell. When I finally picked my way, carrying my bike over all the hoses and rubble, and arrived at the Telephone Exchange, it was to find the next door building still on fire; we could hear the roar of the flames as we tried without much success, to connect all the calls which had collected during the night when the male operators were in the shelter. Most of the lines were down and it was frustrating for the businesses, Army bases and Airfields that they were unable to communicate with anyone for some days. Not to mention individuals who were frantic with worry about their relatives. The days which followed were very difficult, with no water except for a stand pipe at the end of the road, no gas and no electricity. Not much in the way of food, either, as so many shops had been destroyed and as rations were allocated to particular shops, Coventry seemed to be shorter of food than other places for a long time. Still, we were alive, Mum, Dad, my younger sister , myself and my grandfather. He died from pneumonia, about a year later, his health having been affected by the privations of thatyear.

One day, the 大象传媒 arrived in the city, to record a performance of the Coventry Mystery Play in the crypt of the ruined Cathedral. This was to be broadcast overseas, mainly to encourage the Americans to enter the war, and somehow a friend and I were recruited to take part in singing The Coventry Carol. Most of the cast were 大象传媒 Rep, so we were delighted to take part but although some of our English friends heard the programme, we never heard of anyone abroad who heard it!

It was fortunate for me that I had made friends with my medical studentand his friends, as Stan (my future husband) lived in a big house with a large loft over what had been stables. We were allowed to use this as a meeting room where we could listen to music a nd dance when all the dance halls were closed at 9pm.So we had a wonderful social life for a while. Soon, however, people began to join up; Army, Navy,RAF, WAAF, WRNS and as soon as I was eighteen and able to be released from my job which counted as war work, I applied to join the Womens Land Army. It was October by this time so not much farm work available, but I agreed to join the Timber Corps, " The Commandos of the Land Army", so called because we wore green berets.

My first posting was to a saw mill where I was learning to be a saw doctor in a tiny workshop smelling of oil and full of metal dust from the grinding machines. This wasn't what I hoped for but in spite of steel splinters in my eyes removed by electromagnets at the hospital,and feeling not very well I put up with it for a year. The good side of that time was that Stan, in the Royal Warwicks, was posted not far from me, so we met often and fell in love. This romance had to be put on hold for four years when he was sent off to India and it was 1946 before we were able to be married.

After a bout of infective jaundice which laid me low for six weeks my doctor gave me anote for the Ministry of Supply which was in charge of the Land Army, to say that I must have an outdoor job for the sake of my health. Even after a Factory Inspector had viited the saw mill and insisted on some improvements to the conditions, it was far from a good environment.

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