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Ken Woolcott and Jose Woolcott, Wembley.
Ken and Jose were married in 1940 on Ken’s first, seven day leave. They had two very different experiences during the war.

Jose: When war was declared I was 21 and was with my sister in Southampton. We decided that we should rush home to be with our parents in Surrey as they were alone.

After marrying in 1940 and Ken in the army, I was at home with my parents in Surrey, until I volunteered for the A.T.S. I was sent to Nevilles Cross College where I did my initial A.T.S training. The training involved learning how to march and personal hygiene amongst other things. My next posting in 1942 was to Kedlestone Hall near Derby - from there I was sent to Nottingham University, where I was taught to do public speaking on various subjects.

Later I went to Neville’s Cross training centre in Durham where I trained as part of the Coastal Artillery. In June 1943 my last posting was to the Coast Artillery School in Llandudno, which was lovely. The food at Llandudno was marvellous I still fondly remember the buns the cook used to make for us. It was much better than at Neville’s Cross where the food was terrible. We ate from mess tins and when we had salad because there was no lettuce we had to eat cabbage leaves!

We went back to Neville’s Cross years later for a visit, the city had changed so much with a motorway and bridge running through the middle — we were up that way for a wedding and strangely met the man who built the bridge while we were there!

We had a royal visit while I was at Neville’s Cross. The Princess Royal came to visit. We had to clean the place from top to bottom, even the windowsills, though I’m sure she didn’t look at them! That was a good thing about the Army, it gave you discipline. We had to do that sort of deep clean every time we had an important visitor and it kept us on our toes! We had to make sure that the beds were made properly everyday, and we still do it now!

One of the things I remember most strongly was the marvellous camaraderie there was during the war. The warmth of human relationships. There was a lot more understanding then, everyone was so helpful to one another and there was a lot more respect in those days. There was a feeling to togetherness, which really reduced the class-consciousness.

On D-Day in Llandudno it was a riot! The news came through in the middle of the night after we had gone to bed. The Warrant officers and the Sergeants came through the billets clanging dustbin lids! We put our great coats over our pyjamas and went outside. Later that night, in the early hours of the morning we all changed into our bathing costumes and went out into the sea. It was very beautiful as everyone had a kind of fluorescence around them.

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