大象传媒

I went to Goldington Road School. We shared the buildings with Woodford Green High School so we spent the mornings at school and in the afternoons we went to St Cuthbert's Hall.
I left school at fourteen and started work as a clerk/postgirl at Bennett's Works in Castle Lane. I worked 48 hours a week, 8-6 and Saturdays till 12 o'clock. I got 7/6 a week and I gave my mother 6/6. I worked in the ground floor office. Miss Bennett (she was called that though she was really Mrs Jennings)and Mr Jennings ran the office. We were a happy crowd.
The forelady in the factory was Miss Spindler and everyone was frightened to death of her. Bennetts made pants and vests for the services. They were cream, and the pants were long, ending just above the knee.
The vests had short sleeves. In the cutting rooms you would cut through a stack of fabric and one girl, Beryl ? or ? Beryl, cut off her finger with the electric shears and was taken to hospital.
I went to night school from 7-9 at the Boys' Modern School, and learned shorthand typing and Maths. I gave up the shorthand but carried on with the typing. Later I went to work at the offices of Pobjoys, at Goldington Hall. They were an aircraft factory that moved up from Kent to Miller Road.
We went to dances at Bedford Road School, Kempston, but I used to have to be home by 10 o'clock. Audrey Gilbert was a friend of mine. We used to paint our legs brown with something we got from the drugstore. Then you would get a friend with a pen to draw a line up the back of your legs so it looked as though you were wearing stockings. If it rained, it looked terrible.
I had lots of fun in the war. You had to make your own fun. We used to walk up and down the High Street and by the river. You could go into the Corn Exchange to hear Glenn Miller and the other bands if you could get a member of the Forces to take you in. There was the RAF at Cardington, (I was told, "You mustn't talk to all those airmen from Cardington"), the Fleet Air Arm at Henlow, and the soldiers at Kempston Barracks - I was very used to men in uniform. If you were in with the Americans, you could get nylons. We used to go to the Granada, where we had to queue for tickets, or the Plaza or the Picturedrome or the Empire. I saw "Goodbye Mr Chips" and "Gone with the Wind". We sometimes went to the County Theatre by the station where you could sit up in the gods for ninepence. I was with Joan Saunders in Woolworths once and we got chatting to two Americans. I had a dime, and one said,"Gee, money from home, I'll give you half a dollar for that". He gave us 2/6 and Joan said, "We'll be able to go to the theatre".
The 大象传媒 Offices were in Bushmead Avenue. I remember broadcasts by Alvar Lidell and Wilfred Pickles. We used to listen to Lord Haw Haw, and my mother would get very annoyed and say, "Traitor!" but he seemed to know everything that was going on.Morale was very low after Dunkirk, but Churchill was a wonderful leader who gave you confidence.
When there was any sort of victory we would have parades through the town with members of the Forces and the Red Cross (that I belonged to). The Sea Cadet Band would be leading, and it certainly helped morale.
I remember the bombs the night Mr Laxton was killed. And an incendiary bomb fell in the kitchen of the house next door to us in George Street and we were up all night, and I remember the landmine in Queen's Park.
I lost several boyfriends in the war, one in the navy was drowned.
I wasn't bothered by the blackout, but my father worked very long hours at Allens. He worked shifts, nights sometimes, and one night he got a bad black eye because he had walked into a brick wall on his way to work on the night shift.
I was in the Red Cross - we had to go fire-watching. It meant a night from home. We'd be at St Peter's Hall (now a night club)and we'd sleep upstairs there. They would have brought casualties in to us, but nothing like that happened.
We all helped each other in the war. There was a lovely atmosphere. we'd leave our doors unlocked. There was no 'keeping up with the Joneses' in those days. It was 'share and share alike'.
The rationing went on after the war. I craved sweets and fruit - especially oranges.As an expectant mum, I got priority in the banana queue!

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