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I am a Londoner, born in 1920, and was a Girl Guide and then a Sea Ranger. When war was looming, volunteers were requested from the Sea Rangers to join the River Emergency Service, under the control of The Port of London Authority

At that time pleasure steamers were requisitioned and converted into ambulance boats. It was thought that if war was declared London would be bombed and people would flock to the River Thames to escape devastation.

I was called up a few days before September 3rd and found myself that Sunday morning on the deck of my ship "The Marchioness" listening to the Declaration of War. I was a semaphore signaller, having proved proficient at semaphore. The crew consisted of a couple of Registered nurses, 2 Red Cross nurses, a Doctor and the Captain — as well as 2 signallers.

My job was to semaphore the messages across the Thames to the Fire Boat crew on the other side of the river. We were billeted for a time in Cheyney Walk, Chelsea — then St Thomas Nurses' Home, then further down the river at St Georges-in-the East Hospital. We had been given training to deal with emergencies and General First Aid- spending time in the Operating Theatre in St Thomas's Hospital. The boat down below had been fitted out with stretchers etc.

However, as the "Phoney War" progressed it was decided that we were not required and after several months I, along with some others, left the service and found work elsewhere. I don't know when The River Emergency Service was finally disbanded.

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