大象传媒

I worked as an electrical welder at Foster Yates and Thoms during the second world war in the Fabrication Dept and Boiler Shop -
I worked on ackack frames (used for siting guns). I also worked on penicillin tanks (so big you could actually climb into them). Hundreds of men worked with myself and four other women and we used to go on trips in coaches to Liverpool to see the place were our worked eventually finished up. The trips were great fun (as you can imagine) but going on these trips helped to explain exactly why our job was so important. We also worked on the oil tankers (all Empire Boats ) again we had to go away to learn to do the job properly i.e. Welwyn Garden City. When we were working on the oil tankers, one night we had to stay behind - all the workers were individually interviewed by a full panel of men from the Ministry of Defence, because there was a fault with one of the keels and espionage was suspected. We were there for nearly four hours!

In 1944 I was chosen from the factory to launch a ship at Hessle Shipyards in Yorkshire - we stayed at the Devonshire Arms, Skipton, with all the dignatories from the factory - we actually travelled there in a Rolls Royce with Lord and Lady Duncan (who are famous for their work with blind people). The ship was called The Empire Faversham and I was given a commemorative box with a plaque which was made from the same wood as the ship. I drank champagne for the first time during that launch! I still have the box today and treasure the memories of that wonderful event in my life. Nothing like that would have happened to me if it hadn't have been for the war!

The ship then travelled to Princess Docks in Hull and we were taken there to the Station Hotel for a magnificant celebration.

Believe it or not, I attended this momentous event wearing a boiler suit! I was asked what I wanted to wear for the occasion but my family could not afford to buy new clothes - so my choice was a new boiler suit which the company paid for and I could use later in my work.

At Foster Yates and Thoms during our lunch break, in the canteen which must have held two to three hundred people, we had entertainment from an band made up of workers - it was wonderful, that was our main entertainment of the week because the remainder of the time it was all 'bed and work'. I seem to think the band was called "MacKenzie's.

I was also in the Home Guard from Foster Yates and Thoms. We had to attend two nights per week but always on Friday at the Headquarters in Blackburn. We did various tasks including office work, and we also looked after all the men in the Home Guard should they need any shoe repairs, or any other problems. All our lives revolved around work, the factory, the Home Guard and we had little time or money for anyting else.

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