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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from Swindon College on behalf of Chloe Wintle and has been added to the site with her permission. Chloe fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I lived in Herefordshire and married in 1940. My husband was called up and went on a hospital ship taking injured soldiers — he was away for the rest of the war. I had failed the eye sight test so couldn’t join the services.

I found work in a boy’s school near Ludlow, in an old mansion of a house, called Downton Hall. This was a private school from London that had moved temporarily to the country because of the war. The head teacher and teachers lived in the house and the converted stables became bedrooms for other staff.

My work included preparing the dining rooms and waiting on tables. I have very happy memories from my work here. The boys seemed very happy and settled and had a good time, though they never went home for holidays. Many of them had both parents doing essential war work.

There was plenty of snow in winter and masses of space; there was a very long drive to the house. My time off was one half day per week which was often spent in Ludlow. At the end of the very long drive we used to catch the bus into town. It was often dark before we came back and I remember the bus never had lights inside it.

The boys were allowed telephone calls from parents. I remember the Butler’s Pantry having this equipment that looked like the inside of a telephone exchange - bells with different flags on to identify different rooms, all those pegs you had to push in to make connections.

I worked here till nearly the end of the war and only left when I developed pleurisy.

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