大象传媒

In 1943 two twenty year olds found themselves at the Military College of Science in Bury, Lancashire.

Brenda Whalley from Darwen and Betty Bales from Norwich had been directed by the Ministry of Employment to take lecturing posts so that military personnel could be freed for active service. All young single people were called up, either into the armed services, the Land Army, munitions factories or some other specialised job to help the war effort.

The Technical College in Bury had been commandeered by the War Office and one section of the Military Academy of Woolwich moved in. It had been considered that the Academy was too vulnerable to air raids on London and so the electrical and mechanical engineering departments moved to Bury, another section went to Stoke-on-Trent and the armoured fighting vehicles to Cobham.

We both had a scientific background and soon learnt what needed to be taught to the courses of officers and N.C.O.'s mostly from the ranks of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the Royal Artillery. We remained civilians but were given honorary ranks of Junior Commandeer in the A.T.S.

Brenda taught care and servicing of secondary cells, arc lamps (search lights) and later, as technology improved, servo mechanisms. Betty was dealing with elementary physics, how light was reflected and refracted through lenses and prisms in telescopes, dial sights, rangefinders and binoculars in order to facilitate their repair in R.E.M.E. workshops. The staff at Bury was a mixture of Army Officers and N.C.O.'s and civilians, the Heads of Departments being civilian professors and the military commandant, a Brigadier. It was a great challenge.

We were made very welcome and entered into the life of the college. We were there for the duration of the war and in fact, at the end of the hostilities, moved with the college to Shrivenham in Berkshire. Bury had wanted their technical college back so the various departments of the old Woolwich Academy were reunited. The barracks at Shrivenham was built just before the war by the War Office and was a Hore-Belisha barracks - he being the Minister for War. American forces occupied it during the war.

Standing up for the first time in front of 16 or 20 R.E.M.E N.C.O.'s was a little daunting, especially hearing the sound of your own voice and hoping you were making sense. Then after two weeks that group would be posted perhaps to North Africa or Italy and later Europe and another course would arrive.

We are now both widowed but see each other from time to time and like to reminisce about our war effort which was perhaps a little unusual and unique within the Military Academy of Woolwich.

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