大象传媒

This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Liz Andrew of the Lancshomeguard on behalf of Douglas Robb and added to the site with his permission.

I was twenty when the War started and I lived at Balfron which is half way between Stirling and Glasgow. I went down to Warrington to join up with the RAF and from there I was posted to Bridgnorth where I trained to be a Drill Instructor. It was my job to get everyone up in the morning and get them all out doing different drills - they had to do foot drill and rifle drill.

I was posted to Scarborough for two years and then to Blackpool for another four years. At the end of the war I was posted back to Paddington and demobbed from there. I had signed on for seven years - It was a good life.

I got married in Blackpool. It was smashing there. You could go to a different concert every night - there was a whole variety. I met my wife for the first time at the Tower. She was called Joyce. She came up to me and asked me for the next dance. It was a quickstep. She used to like dancing - and I did too. We'd go all over - to the Winter Gardens and the Tower Ballroom. It used to be packed at the Tower and steamy - and you could hardly get out. I remember a pint of beer was about a shilling. Joyce and I got married soon after we met.

I managed to get billeted at her parents house after we were married so we could be together. It was on South Shore near the Waterloo pub. I used to get my leg pulled about being stationed here in Blackpool for such a length of time but I had a good war -I couldn't grumble.

I came back here to Blackpool after I was demobbed. My first job was at Vickers at Squires Gate. Then I became a self employed window cleaner -and I carried on with that for nearly sixty years.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.