大象传媒

When war broke out I was 13 and living in South Sheilds and attending the Girls High School.
We had quite a number of bombing raids and I remember many sleepless nights spent in an Anderson Shelter in our backgarden. My goodness it was cold, especially in the winter.
School was disrupted somewhat and the Girls School closed as it was very near town. We joined in with the boys as their school was further out of town and therefore safer.
Quite a number of our friends from school were evacuated to Cumbria at the time. For various reasons, it was decided that we would have school only in the mornings, which meant plenty of homework but also lots of time to ourselves.

In 1941 aged 15, I had a desire to do something for the war effort, so I went to the Police HQ to ask their advice. They sent me to the WVS who agreed to help and together with some friends from school, we formed ourselves into the "Youth Voluntary Services" we even had our own badge! We started by knitting for the troops, scarves, gloves, balaclavas etc, and gave them to soldiers stationed locally - they were always very grateful. Then we progressed to helping in the YMCA canteen, making sandwiches and tea and also washing up and subsequently, after a little training, served behind the canteen.

When I was 16/17 I became a telephonist in the Auxiliary Fire Service for a while and then in 1944 aged 18, I joined the ATS. After a months training at Pontefract in Yorkshire, I was posted to Rugby in Warwickshire, where I worked as a clerk in the Royal Artillery Records Office.

This all brings me to the end of the war and I might add that on VE Day I was with that vast crowd outside Buckingham Palace shouting "We want the King." Fantastic.

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