大象传媒

On the 18th August 1943 I left my home in Manchester to join the Women鈥檚
Royal Naval Service, exactly one month after my 18th birthday. I never considered joining any of the other Women鈥檚 service鈥檚 and volunteered for the Wrens as soon as I was old enough.

I reported to HMS 鈥淪partiate 11鈥�, a shore base in the grounds if a Castle on the banks of Loch Lomond, Scotland, where for two weeks I was a pro-Wren and not until after these initial two weeks did I become a member of the W.R.N.S. These two weeks were definitely not the best time I had in the Service, but I was sure that if I survived these two weeks nothing in the future could be any worse. We used to be awakened about 6am and marched up the hill in the rain ( it rained all the time) to the Castle where we scrubbed every corner ( never was there a cleaner Castle). Before joining up I hardly knew what a scrubbing brush looked like!

The only part of a uniform we were issued was the shoes, black, flat heeled, laceups which gave us many blisters until we were used to them. Whilst there it was decided I should serve in the Communications Branch of the Service as a Teleprinter Operator. My Father had served in the Royal Navy during the 1914 鈥� 18 War as a Signalman, 鈥� Bunting Tosser鈥�, in his day he would be the one aloft passing Signals from ship to ship by flags, ( in Morse Code) ). I was proud that like my Father I wore crossed flags on my sleeve.

At the end of the two weeks as a pro-Wren I was issued with my uniform and posted to Westfield College in London where I learned to use the Teleprinter. I already knew how to type from my civilian job as a Shorthand Typist. After training I was sent to Framewood Manor, Buckinghamshire awaiting a posting and then onto Blundellsands near Liverpool in the North Western Command from where I was posted to HMS 鈥淣ightjar鈥� a Royal Naval Air Station consisting of two camps for personnel.

Wharles and Inskip with a large Airfield situated between the two camps . I was in Inskip Camp. We slept in bunks in Nissen Huts, there were about fourteen of us in a cabin ( one soon learned to use the Naval Terms !). The Nissen Hut was heated by one small coke burning stove which was hard to light but once it was burning the stove glowed red and many the slice of bread we toasted on which we put lashings of Peanut Butter brought back from leave by one of us. Whoever returned from leave always brought a jar of Peanut Butter ( it was an unwritten law).

The Airfield was close to Preston and Blackpool where we used to spend most of our off-duty time. Naval Air Squadrons were trained at HMS 鈥淣ightjar鈥� before being sent on active service. The Air Crews learned to land their Aircraft on the Deck of an Aircraft Carrier. Amongst other things.

As a Teleprinter Operator I worked underground in the Communications Department where we worked three watches and I never really got used to working the Night Watch. We dealt with signals from all over the UK. Some were in plain language and others in code which had to be de-cyphered.

Fortunately I was never involved in any enemy action whilst in the Service, but I had my fair share before I joined up. Manchester , where I lived was bombed night after night, we had our own BLITZ, the wail of the Air Raid siren used to turn our stomachs and after a night in the Air Raid Shelter at the bottom of the garden, we emerged when the 鈥淎ll Clear鈥� sounded wondering if we had a home standing, we were lucky, but many were not.

At this time my Dad was an Air Raid Warden and he was on duty during most of these Air Raids. I will always remember when War was declared the whole school being assembled in the Hall by the Headmistress who told us we had no need to worry. Manchester was far from Germany we wouldn鈥檛 see much of the war. How wrong she was.

I met my future husband whilst serving in HMS 鈥淣ightjar鈥�. He was a Petty Officer Radio Mechanic serving with the Squadron posted to Inskip for training before going on Active Service on an Aircraft Carrier.

Although the War brought unhappiness to many, losing their loved ones and their homes, the camaraderie during the war years was terrific.
Whenever we travelled on a journey everyone was friendly and shared food, drinks and cigarettes. We met people from countries which were just names on a map to us before the War, and we made lasting friendships.

We were regularly invited to other Services dances which were great fun.

I was demobilised on 25 June 1946 and then married my Petty Officer and so moved to Leicester his Home town.

This story was submitted to the 鈥淧eoples War Site by Rod Aldwinckle of the CSV Action Desk on behalf of Anne Richards and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the terms and conditions of the site

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