大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥� War by a volunteer from The Chepstow Society on behalf of Dorothy Chambers and has been added to the site with her permission. Dorothy Chambers fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I worked in Woolworth鈥檚 shop in High Street opposite the Cenotaph. British Officers came in to buy crockery for the Officers鈥� mess. Groups from Woolworth鈥檚 went to local dances at the Beachley Camp and walked home. We were given first aid lessons from the Police on Tuesday nights in case of bombs falling on the store. I was leaving the store on the night the bomb was dropped on the rocks by the Castle. I can remember the swing doors of the store going in and back out taken out of our hands by the force of the blast. Another assistant and myself ended up on the steps shaking at the knees.. We heard the glass shattering out of the china shop window higher up in the High Street. The shop belonged to Miss Clarke.

I also went with my mother to ARP talks held in the Police Station in the Town.

I can remember the oil tanks on the Bristol side of the Severn burning for days.

I also remember walking up Mount Pleasant and seeing the Red Crosses on the carriages of the trains pulling in to the sidings of the special Chepstow Station and the ambulances waiting.

When calling up time arrived I went to the Admiralty Depot in town which was in Finch鈥檚 Yard. The building we worked in was called Picton House before the war. We were told not to talk about what we did in case we were overheard by strangers. To travel home on the bus was a risk so we used to walk. The roads were safer in those days and our workmates used to link arms, four, five or six of us, probably singing 鈥淭he White Cliffs of Dover 鈥� or whatever fitted the journey. We weighed small components at the Depot which were destined for Armaments manufactured at Dinham. We also cleaned out and refurbished shell boxes which went to Dinham to be repackaged with new shells. As part of our work we had to take turns to Fire Watch at the Depot. There were two girls and one policeman and we had to check the premises every hour.

One day a friend asked me to join her in taking her dog for a walk. We went down to the wharf and walked along by the river on a lovely sunny day. As we walked I looked back and saw a plane coming very quietly behind us, very low. We ran for the hedge and dropped into the ditch. It offered very little protection. The plane quietly went by leaving us both saying 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of ours鈥�. I never went down there again. I Bet those boys up there had a laugh!

My father worked at Dinham for part of the war and I had two brothers who were both in the RAF. I am pleased to say both of them returned home safely but a girl working beside me at the yard had the sad news that her brother had been killed. I cried with her.

At home we grew vegetables in the garden to help the war effort. Our Air Raid Shelter was just under the dining room table.

We were very careful in the blackout but once an Air Raid Warden shouted at me when he saw a chink of light.

I remember the soldiers from the Bulwark camp being drilled in the streets around Bulwark during the day.

I remember knitting scarves, gloves, balaclavas and socks for the servicemen at war. We were able to buy wool at the local shops. This work helped to keep us busy in the evenings.

We also used some of our rations to bake cakes to send to my brothers for Birthdays and at Christmas. Once I had a letter from some RAF boys thanking me for the cakes which I had sent to my brother who had been ill and unable to eat them. As he was getting better they felt they should write to thank me. I stopped sending them cakes after that because I didn鈥檛 think my cakes were good enough!

When the war was over friends asked us to come out into the streets to celebrate. We refused because we wanted to know my brothers were safe before we celebrated.

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