大象传媒

This story has been written onto the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer, Martine Knight. She fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

My late, great Auntie, Daisy Moyle, was a bit of a character and was well known locally as someone who 'would call a spade a spade' and could have a fearsome temper, but she had a heart of gold.

During WW2 she worked at Pool's factory, in Hayle, making aircraft parts and munitions. One of her co-workers was Eunice Symons, who lived near her, and they would cycle to work together - a journey that took about an hour each way. Eunice has told me that Daisy would pedal so fast her legs were a blur.

The work was hard and the hours long. Twelve hour shifts, seven days a week. One week would be days (8 am to 8 pm) and the next nights (8 pm to 8 am). All this for the princely sum of 拢3-10s a week, before tax.

Due to the blackouts they couldn't have much in the way of lighting on their bikes and that made cycling home through Godolphin woods, at night, interesting to say the least.
If the night milk lorry passed them the driver would give them a lift and put their bikes on the back of the lorry. Once there was an almighty crash and the bikes were found, somewhat battered, in the road behind them.

To keep up morale at the factory there were weekly ENSA concerts and once the girls were taken out onto the Towans, in tanks, by the American troops to see how the bombs, made at the factory, worked.

Later in the war Daisy worked as a motorcycle despatch rider and she collected a lot of money for the Returning Serviceman's Fund, at Carleen, after the war.
Her particular forte was fancy dress (her trade being that of tailoress) and she created some amazing outfits out of very little. One of her most 'famous' was the half bride/half groom outfit.

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