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I was 15 years old when War was declared in September 1939; I lived on the outskirts of Birmingham (North Worcester) with my family. I worked at Cadburys and hoped to go into the design office as I had artistic skills. At ll I had passed to go to Moseley Road Art School and had started studying at the College of Art, but this stopped when the War started.

When I was 18 I had either to join the Forces or work in a factory. As I suffered from epilepsy my father would not allow me to do either and he was fined £5.00 - a lot of money in 1942. I wanted to join the Land Army or the WRNS but again my father would not agree, my 4 brothers were all serving in the Forces and my father thought that was enough for one family to be expected to do.

My eldest sister Lily died in 1942; my second sister Stella worked in the basement of the Cadbury's Factory making shell cases for rockets for the Lucas Munitions Company; my youngest sister was still a child.

I was called up to work for the Transport System (which was run by women), firstly on the buses and then on the trams as a clippie. I was so small that I fell off the Outer Circle Bus - it was 3 stops later that the driver realised he had lost "his clippie".

I was then transferred to the trams. Whilst working on the trams, I pulled the pole over as I jumped off and fell into the pit; I broke my shoulder and thumb and was sent to convalesce to Llandudno.

I met my future husband, James, whilst working for the Transport System. He had come over from Ireland, after 6 weeks training he worked in Liverpool, Coventry and then Birmingham.

Our family was very lucky in that we did not have to be evacuated. My Uncle Tom had a smallholding in the countryside on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, we went there for the occasional weekend. Most weekends we went into the Worcestershire countryside to my aunts & uncles - I had 13 aunts and uncles - so we had plenty of places to go to. Not only was this a welcome change but we were able to bring fruit and vegetables back with us.

One day my mother was cooking dinner - sausages - when the air-raid siren went off, she was determined to finish cooking the sausages before going to the shelter. Dashing to the shelter she fell BUT she didn't drop the sausages!

Note: the story of my four brothers war service can be found at A6390623.

Story: This story has been submitted to the People's War site by Muriel Palmer (volunteer) of Age Concern Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on behalf of Kathleen O'Gallivan (author) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

see more of Kathleen O’Gallivan's stories and photographs:

• The Cleaver brothers’ War Service

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