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This is an interview between Alma Camps, who was a Girl Guide during World War Two, and Guides of the 1st Northop Company, Flintshire. The Guides all came up with their own questions to ask. Interview recorded under supervision, October 2005

Did you do anything special to help with the war?

Yes, we collected waste paper, we collected foil, and we were all encouraged, even if we didn’t have a garden, even if it was just a backyard, to take up some of the flags and grow vegetables.

What were the promises you had to keep?

We kept the Guide promise, which is not very different to the promise you make today:
I promise I will do my best, do my duty to God and the King, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law.
Of course, then, we had a King, didn’t we? Not a Queen. So we made our promise to the King.

Did you have any air raid warnings during Guides?

I don’t remember any air raid warnings during Guides, because the air raids tended to come much later in the evening. But we did have to have air raid precautions, and we had to act as though an air raid was taking place. We had a fair number of signals using a whistle and our Captain, as she was in those days, she would blow her whistle loud and long, and we had to act as though it was an air raid. We all had to assemble by the door, very quickly, and we would all be taken down to the air raid shelter. We did have to practise it, yes.

What uniform did you wear?

Our uniform was a tunic, with long sleeves, and a little turned back collar. We had a leather belt and a hat with quite a large crown and wide brim. Our tie was a triangular piece of material, which we had to fold in the proper way, and the two ends tied in a reef knot at the back of our neck. Our Captain was very particular, and we had an inspection every week. She’d walk behind us and lift our collars, to make sure that we had tied it in a reef knot.

Did you do any exciting activities?

Well, we did go to camp during the war. We thought it was quite exciting at the time. We didn’t actually go very far, and it must have been very difficult for our leaders because of food rationing. And, of course, you couldn’t buy anything rubber because rubber was needed for the war effort. So, if you hadn’t got any Wellingtons, you had to take a pair of plimsolls. And, the first time I went to camp, it rained most of the week, so my feet seemed to be wet the whole week, because my Wellingtons had gone too small, and you just couldn’t buy them, you couldn’t get them. So we thought it was very exciting.

Did you have to take your own rations (on camp)?

Yes, the evening before we went, we had to go to the school where we met and we had to take a lot of our food with us. We had to take a brown paper bag with our sugar ration, because, of course, there were no plastic bags then, and we had to take our bread units, so that they could buy bread for us throughout the week. Cereals we had to take with us, jam.. we had to take a lot of things with us, which must have been very difficult for our leaders when you think about it. You couldn’t just go out and buy things if you ran out, you had to make sure that what you had lasted for the week, because you couldn’t go and buy anymore.

Where did you go camping?

We went to a place called Crawshaw Hall, which was in Crawshaw Booth in Rawtenstall, because I lived in Rochdale in Lancashire, and it wasn’t very far away, because, of course, petrol was rationed, along with everything else. All our equipment was piled into the back of a lorry. The guides, in full uniform, had to scramble on top, sit on top of the equipment, and off the lorry would go.

What games did you play?

We played Cat and Mouse. We had two different versions of that. We used to play Hunt the Thimble. And we used to play.. an adding game. You used to have to add things up as you went along. It was to see which patrol could add everything together properly, and get the answer right- first. It was sort of a patrol competition.

When you were on camp, did you hear any bombings or anything like that?

Very little. Where I lived, we were roughly about twelve miles from Manchester, and a little bit further than that away from Liverpool, so, at times, yes, we did hear bombing. You could hear the explosions, yes, which was very frightening. And, of course, if the air raid warning had sounded, you didn’t dare show even a glimmer of light. If you were lucky enough to have a torch, you daren’t switch it on, in case anyone flying overhead could see the light. It was very frightening.

What kind of badges did you have?

We had a lot of badges, and I would think a lot of them are basically the same that you do now. Obviously they’re altered and updated. There are one or two- one in particular, ‘Signaller’, that became obsolete quite a long time ago. But a lot of them.. ‘Communications’, of course, are very different now than what I did all those years ago. But a lot of them are basically the same, they’ve just been updated.

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