大象传媒

This story has been added to the People's War website by Liz Andrew of the LancsHome Guard on behalf of Betty Dinsdale and has been submitted with her permission.

I was 16 when war broke out. I'd just left school and took a very full commercial course.

I joined a voluntary land army scheme in Lancaster - we cycled to various farms on our bikes. We thinned kale and stooked hay - we'd gather six bales together so that it would dry out. When we finished work, we were given supper - that was the highlight!

Then I worked in the ticket office at the station in Lancaster. It was completely black at night- I remember feeling my way along the wall - we had torches but could only shine them down onto the ground.

I was on firewatch at Lancaster Girls Grammar School. We had camp beds in the secretary's office and we had to report if there was any fire. It was quite easy but there were just two of us to keep an eye on a big school.

My father was a joiner who suffered from high blood pressure and he was not involved in the Forces. My sister was called up but I was said to be doing work of national importance.I wasn't - I was only copy typing in the ticket office and I was bored to tears. I was quite peeved because I couldn't get into the Forces and get away from home. My teenage years were a bit of a let down - I had been on the verge of going to dances in long dresses - but suddenly they didn't have long dresses any more!

But we did have some good times in Morecambe. If you were looking for a partner you'd go to the Floral Hall - if you already had one you'd go to the Pier - it had a really good dance floor. I remember standing at the garden gate with my boyfriend before he went home and when we looked over Morecambe Bay we saw Barrow on fire.

Lancaster was a reception area and lots of evacuees came up from Salford. We didn't have any ourselves but my mum's sister lived in London and she was in touch quite frequently to say one or other of her neighbours needed a break and would we look after them.

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