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My father was a gamekeeper and we lived in a small cottage in Scotland. I remember quite clearly sitting in front of the wireless,( it was one of those with a big acid battery) with my mother and father an younger sister when Neville Chamberlain announced that war had broken out. I wondered how this would affect our daily lives but life still went on as usual until I joined the Wrens when I was seventeen and a half years old.
I joined up in the nearest big city which was Glasgow and from there I was sent to Mill Hill in London. I was shocked to see all the red brick houses because in Scotland the houses are stone blocks. I enjoyed the freedom of not being under parental control and started to settle down to the naval routine.
After six weeks of marching of marching up and down the parade ground my group of Wrens was sent down to Whale Island in Portsmouth, there we learned to cook for hundreds of men. At night we went back to the quarters which was a nissen hut, this had a concrete floor with a steel roof form which the condensation continually dripped. Looking back on it the place was dark and dismal, the only comforts you had was a coke fired stove in the middle of the hut with a few raffia mats on the floor space. You had to wash your face with cold water in the morning on waking up and oh yes I remember how we had to wear those long navy blue knickers, they came down to just above your knee. You had to show the Wren officer you were wearing the regulation knickers before you went on parade.

One of the things that we quickly learned was that a particular religions group ( cant remember which one ) would give you a nice tea with lots of cakes if you attended and stayed to the lecture afterwards, NO LECTURE — NO TEA !!!!
We used to go dancing in the Guildhall at Portsmouth there was never any shortage of partners. I remember marching in the victory parade at Portsmouth after VE day had been announced. The crowds of people were cheering and clapping, the whole time we were marching.
I met my husband who was in the Navy shortly after this and I left the Wrens to get married and start a family.

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