´óÏó´«Ã½

I worked as an Assistant Section Officer at RAF Rudloe Manor, just outside Bath and carried out duties, assessing whether aircraft detected over the Channel or overland were friend or foe. I took on board information from various sources eg. Observer Corp and local RAF bases among others, in coming to the decision. We worked in huts on the camp, it was an administration/ operations base but didn’t have any aeroplanes. There was a very active RAF base across the valley from us. I remember seeing a German aircraft being shot down whilst overhead there one day, the plane caught fire immediately, I don’t think anyone was able to parachute out of it. I went there in July 1941 and it was a fairly active camp which provided training for direct entry officers who had worked as school teachers, bankers etc. before joining the RAF. They received training for about three or four weeks, before moving on to their posting. They would look quite odd, their new uniform and hats sat differently, they stood out from the more seasoned officers. My future husband was one of these trainee officers. He had been unfortunate enough to get carbuncles on his rear end and ended up in Melsham Hospital and was left behind (no pun intended) on his course and wasn’t fit to go to his posting as scheduled. Because of this he was eventually stationed at Rudloe Manor. That was the start of how he and I became involved. He came from Banbridge originally and we were the first couple from that camp to get married which created great excitement among our fellow workers within the camp. We were married in December 1942 and moved out to rooms in Corsham which was about 2 miles from the camp. The address was 12a Paul Street, it was a semi detached house, number 11 was the other half and number 15 was on the other side, but our owner who was terribly superstitious wouldn’t live in number 13. We stayed there for about three months and then moved to a furnished house which had a huge statue of Rob Roy which was our pride and joy. The house was quite compact because you could never sit down without having to move Rob Roy. I cooked on a coal fire using a trivet which was quite a feat. The next furnished house we moved to had a very detailed inventory which used to say, ‘one settee, three legs; one armchair, two legs.’ We were told the house belonged to a lady who had eloped with someone’s chauffeur causing quite a scandal. She had never returned to the house and it had become progressively more run down, nothing had been repaired in it. I continued to work for about four months after we got married and Edgar, my husband, was paid a paid an amount each week for allowing me to live with him. It seemed most strange, but the money was useful. I wasn’t allowed to come over to Northern Ireland until after we were married due to travel restrictions. You were only allowed to travel to Northern Ireland if you came from here or were married to someone who was from here. This was a general travel restriction for everyone, not just service personnel. I travelled by ship between Liverpool or Heysham to Belfast, nobody flew. I never met my in laws who lived in Belfast until after I was married, they were quite elderly and were fairly frail and unable to travel. They weren’t able to come to the wedding. Everyone who left the services at the end of the war received a gratuity, it was calculated on the length of service and was a handsome amount compared with your weekly pay. Because there was a clothing scarcity men who were demobbed were given a suit, two shirts and a hat at the end of the war. Because I had left the service of my own accord, I didn’t get any clothing, just some coupons.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.