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When the war broke out, I was in a family of 10, my brother joined up in ’39. I was 13 and evacuated to Darlington and the school was taken over by the Navy. We were away for two years, when I came home; I became a ‘Catcher’ at Doxfords shipyard where I would catch the rivets from the ship. I was then promoted to ‘Eater’ where I would look for holes in the ship.
At the age of 18, I joined the Auxiliary Territorial Services which disbanded in 1949.
I met my husband in 1944 and I went to Germany with him. In 1948, we had a daughter that was born in Düsseldorf.
I then worked at the JL Thompson Shipyard where I would clean the ships in preparation for new journeys. One of my experiences that I remember was chucking my bag of muck over the side of the ship and I knocked the manager’s bowler hat off!!!
In 66’ we had another daughter and unfortunately the shipyard closed and I was made redundant.
I was best known as Shipyard Glad and I would like to say hi and wish the best of luck to all my mates that I worked with

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