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WORKING IN THE MUNITIONS FACTORY

I was 19 years old at the start of the war. I decided to work on the munitions rather than go into the forces. I was living in Lancashire, and I worked in a factory in Heeley Dell near Rochdale, making Mortar bombs. We worked in a factory; it was like a big shed with all different rooms. We worked on an assembly line. We sat on either side of a long table and each did a bit of everything towards making the bomb. We changed places every shift so that the job didn’t become too monotonous. The explosives were put in at the very end. There was once an explosion but fortunately nobody was injured.

Heeley Dell was a lovely place and the bombers couldn’t see the factory. When the bombers went over we just held our breath to see if they would drop a bomb. They didn’t and I’m still here to tell the tale! We sang a lot to the radio programme ‘music while you work’. We worked a fortnight on days and a fortnight on nights for £3.2.6d. I stayed all during the war and they wrapped up the firm after the war. I then went back to my old job working as a machinist in a clothing factory.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by June Woodhouse (volunteer) of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester on behalf of Eunice Hutt (author) and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

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