大象传媒

I worked in the Much Wenlock High Street in the Grocer's shop. During the war I did my bit doing this shop work, Fire Watching and some time with the St. John's Ambulance before they decided that this still was not enough and in 1942 I started work at the Naval Armaments Depot at Ditton Priors.

One of my clearest memories was when they brought the men from St. Dunstan's to the Much Wenlock Memorial Hall which then was a Dance Hall. They were billeted in Church Stretton, somewhere beind the railway.

All the girls lined up outside the Memorial Hall and waited for the men to get off the bus. The men from St. Dunstan's (a charity that still survives today) were blind or partly blind through war injuries or from the effects of malnutrition and beri beri. Some of their faces were terribly burnt but we girls had been told before they arrived that we had to take the next one in turn as they got off the bus. My 'man' at that dance was a naval man from South Africa.

The last man I partnered was from the Potteries. I used to walk him around. I was going to have him back to our house for tea as a lot of the St. Dunstan's men were terribly lonely and just wanted to go back home. But my brother George said no to him coming to tea.

Another time we went to Church Stretton again for another dance. I remember I was wearing a pair of red sling back shoes. I knew that not all of the men were totally blind because quite a few commented on my red shoes.

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Sarah Shires of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Edith Ratcliffe and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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