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I was a volunteer ambulance driver in Bedworth, there were about 12 of us (girls) who could drive in 1939, and we all had a letter asking if we would be
volunteer ambulance drivers. There was Dr Orton’s wife; Joan Marshall from the bakers, the Rev. Brody-Good’s daughter Elise and Cath the daughter of the manager of Bedworth gas-works, amongst the others was Elsie Orton who became a champion cyclist. My name was Joan Allen, I was the daughter of the local undertaker. When there were casualties my father was summoned to fetch them. I was a shorthand typist, I was 18 at the beginning of the war, and so I was an age to be called up. I wanted to go into the forces, as I could drive and do shorthand-typing I thought I might get something interesting to do…My parents objected and my fiancé (Albert White) who was in the RAF training to be a pilot, wasn’t happy with the idea, so I joined the Bedworth ambulance service full time. I got married during the war, and when my first child was due in 1942 I had to give up.

One thing I remember is the ‘Scabie Wagon’ there was a lot of it about…
we had to go and collect people who had scabies and take them to the showers at George Street school, which had been turned into a first aid post, with showers. (When we had delivered them) we had to clean out the ambulance, and then take them home again.

The first ambulance depot was at Bedworth Gas Works; afterwards it was in Newtown Road together with the Rescue (service), the building is now Social Services. During the raids on Coventry loads of people came to Bedworth. The only casualties I know of in Bedworth were a family who had come from Coventry to get away from the bombing, and their shelter was bombed.

We ambulance drivers were called out to the big raids on Coventry… we were
always on ready alert. We had a Senior Ambulance Officer, when he knew I was a secretary he had me working in the office rather than going out on the ambulances.

Most rewarding of all was that we were at the ready and used when we were needed, there was great camaraderie, between the full time and volunteer ambulance drivers and attendants and also the rescue station.

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