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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Christine Wadsworth of Wakefield Libraries and Information Services on behalf of Phyllis and has been added with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The story was recorded at Hemsworth Day Centre.

I got first class work in the Officer’s Mess in Chester. We had to build our own fires outside whilst training to be a cook.

Once when cooking for the soldiers I was a naughty girl, the vat that I was cooking the cabbage in was leaking, so I wrapped a piece of dishcloth around the plug. Anyway, one of the soldiers found the lump of dishcloth in his dinner, so all the cooks had to go on parade. However Private Osbourne (as I was then) kept a straight face, and did not confess to the ‘crime’.

I was then stationed in Pontefract and it was there that I met my husband. We were at a local dance and it was ‘Love at First Sight’. He was a miner, so he wasn’t in the forces. We met twice in twelve months and were soon married. We stayed married and had three children.

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