大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War web site by Karen Elmes at the Building Exploratory on behalf of Rachel Tomkins and has been added to the site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

When Rae was called up to do her bit for the war effort she was initially sent to work in a munitions factory (along with a girl who had worked on the handkerchief counter at Harvey Nichols). They worked with molten lead, Rae really hated it and asked if she could do something else instead. She was told that she could either go into the forces or prison, so she chose to got to into the forces. As Rae had been a hairdresser before the war she asked if she could do hairdressing but she was told that they already had enough hairdressers, so Rae became a cook for the Royal Air Force. She remembers thinking that being a cook would have its advantages, 鈥業 thought - I won鈥檛 starve!鈥� It turned out to be a good move for Rae, she spent three years moving around the country and 鈥淚 enjoyed every minute of it!鈥� She came out on compassionate grounds, as her father was very ill.

This story was recorded by the Building Exploratory as part of a World War Two reminiscence project called 鈥淢emory Blitz鈥�. To find out more please go to ^{About links}

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