大象传媒

When i was 15 , I joined the "Womens Junior Air Corps" . We had a grey uniform which we had to buy out of our coupon allowance. We had parades , did Red Cross first aid courses, aircraft recognition and learnt Morse code and how to transmit it. I stayed in that doing two evenings a week, until joining the A.T.S. At his time , i was also collecting for a "Penny a Week" fund for the Red Cross, calling at out a hundred houses of contributors. I have still got a photo letter recieved from the Duke of Gloucester, thanking me for my services.
At 16 i became a messenger for the A.R.P and did one night a week at the civic centre where messages were recieved about bombs falling, which had to be logged and various crews had to be sent to deal with the situations. If it was a quiet night you managed to get a few hours sleep. which was useful, as you had to go to work the next day regardless.
September 15th 1944, when i was seventeen and a half, saw me on my way for my basic training with the A.T.S. (Army Territorial Service) now known as The Women`s Royal Army Corps. I had intended to go into the Women`s Royal Air Force, but changed my mind at the last moment. About 40 of us met in London at Euston Sstation and we travelled by train to Leicester. There we were loaded into trucks and taken to "Glen Parva Barracks". This was a very old place , but we had huts in the grounds. Glen Parva Barracks was the headquarters of The Leicestershire Regiment.
I believe the former Barracks are now a prison establishment.
We were issued with our uniforms the next day. Some fitted, others did not. We Recieved an overcoat, two jackets and skirts, three shirts with sperate collars, two pairs of pyjamas with blue and white stripes, vests and "bloomers"( real passion killers with elastic at the bottoms of the legs), lisle stockings and three pairs of shoes.
Every night, brass badges, buttons,and of course shoes had to be shined and polished, ready for inspection the next day. Floors had to be swept and the strip of lino down the middle of the room had to be polished.

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