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Mrs Gwen Edwards (nee Kempster) of Rhyl shares her memories of starting work as a telephonist during the war and then being promoted to a Civil Servant.

I was 15 at the outbreak of the war. By Christmas 1939 our family was devastated by the loss at sea of my only brother on H.M.S Royal Oak.

In 1940 my dad who was a G.P.O Engineer made an appointment for me to have an interview as a telephonist. I went for the interview and passed it and was asked to report for duty at 8am. I arrived at 7.45am at the Exchange and there was a boy there a little older than me who was to be trained as an engineer. We are still firm friends to this day. We knocked on the door and it was opened by Mr. Lloyd the door keeper and refused to let us in until he had checked us out.

My first impression of the switch room was terrifying. It was a long room with a window at each end which were firmly sealed with big iron bars. On the front window there was a big notice which said 鈥渋ron bars do not a prison make鈥�. All the switchboards were manned and all I could hear were voices calling, number cards clanging 鈥� a huge busy, busy room.
After signing the official secrets act and being told in no uncertain terms what an important job I would be doing, I was put to listen in with one of the senior operators.

I was soon to learn that we had many high priority subscribers, which were the Police, Fire Service, Coast Guard, Army at Prestatyn, RAF who were billeted locally and the Army at Kinmel Camp. These people were always treated with utmost urgency, and we were forbidden to listen in. We were made to be very aware of National Security and careless tongues.

As the war progressed the men who made up the night staff were called up and the female workers were put on longer shifts. We used to work long busy days 鈥� we did one shift where we worked until 11pm. I can remember my dad coming to meet me and as we walked home in the pitch black night, we could see flashes in the sky. My dad said to me, 鈥淟iverpool are getting it again鈥�.

The Armed Forces鈥� switchboard was very busy and made many long distance calls, so many in fact that sometimes there was up to three hours delay on long distance calls. These calls were dealt with on a special section 鈥� nobody鈥檚 favourite job. I was always sorry for people in call boxes who were trying to call home as they were told to 鈥榗ome back in two hours鈥�. Being a small exchange (12 positions) we had very few long distance lines and there were always being used for Armed Forces calls. However, we did establish a very good repartee with the boys on the Army switchboards but were forbidden to give our names. There were several romances 鈥� one girl married a military policeman and two married American soldiers. I myself had several dates with boys met on the telephone.

We had regular fire drills and gas mask training, and every Monday morning we had to walk in our gas masks for an hour. If you were not on duty at the time, you had to do it when you were back at work. As we worked on the first floor (engineers were on the ground floor), when we had fire drills we had to climb out of the window and down the ladder. We used to get great cheers from the engineers, who were already on the ground!

Part of our duty was relieving at other exchanges, i.e. Abergele, Denbigh, Holywell and Ruthin. It was good sometimes, terrible at others. We had to do the same hours as the regular staff, therefore if you were working in Ruthin for example, the last bus was 9pm. If you had a good supervisor, she would let you get off earlier, but more often than not, you were lucky to be on the last bus. Cold, dark winter nights were not much fun. I do remember I was lucky on several occasions when an engineer would be called out and would kindly wait for me and bring me home. The P.O Engineers who were responsible for all exchange faults and worked on the ground floor were a wonderful band of men, and I have many very happy memories of the get-togethers we had. In fact, I fell in love with one and we married in 1945.

My war years seem to have been all work, dark nights and dark mornings. But there were many happy times as well as bad. I remember the kindness of our supervisors when the Air Raid siren used to go off. If it was off duty time, we were not allowed to leave the building until the all clear, which could be hours and would stretch into the next shift. But the supervisors always made sure we had some time to eat and rest. Many times we had to do double shifts as it was necessary to for every board to be staffed on busy periods. But we all worked very happily, and it was very important that you arrived on duty on time as you were always relieving someone else. If you were late, the other person would not be able to leave the switchboard until you鈥檇 arrive, therefore if they lived out of town, it meant missed buses etc. You had a duty to your colleagues as well as to your work. We were also constantly reminded of the importance of communication, and what a vital contribution we were making to the war. I made many long enduring friendships which I still have today.

Miss Wallis the Chief Supervisor persuaded me to take the Civil Service exam in 1942. I passed it and became an established Civil Servant and as my Dad said 鈥榮ecure for life鈥�. I remained a telephonist, having risen to the rank of supervisor until Rhyl Exchange closed in 1967. After that I was transferred to the Department of Health and Social Security where I remained until my retirement in 1984. And all because my Dad made me go for an interview.

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