大象传媒

I started working at Blotts the drapers in the High Street, aged 14 years old in 1937. At the beginning of the war I was asked to do the Fire Watch at night time which involved myself and my friend in sleeping overnight (on a staff rota) at the top of the shop, the second floor of the old building. If there had been any trouble we would have had to contact Mr Fuller, who owned and lived in the garage in Lurke Street, at the rear end of the shop. Fortunately, we didn't get into any difficulties as we hadn't had any training.

Then in 1941 I was told to go to Chimney Corner, the Ministry of Defence. We were making charges for Howitzer guns in the Cordite section. I cycled to work for 8am and we left at 5pm, there was a train but it was more convenient for me to cycle. We worked Monday through to Friday and Saturday mornings. It wasn't hard work, we were encouraged to be bright and cheerful and we listened to 'Music While You Work' and 'Workers Playtime'. We went into the building in the morning and we had to change our shoes and wear shoes that were provided and leave our things in the locker and remove anything that was metal. And we had to walk on the 'clean way', this was a designated area that was where the end of one section ended and another began.

I was tying up sticks of cordite which was hard, in sticks like pencils, the colour of maccaroni, and then the charges where put into metal ammunition boxes ready for transporting in the train and sent off to filling factories for further assembling.

I was sent to work at Igranic from the munitions factory at Chimney Corner. I was working on the 'marking off' table. They made also sorts of things for ships, various things that came along that needed holes drilling in them, we marked where the holes were to be drilled by setting them up on a 'marking off' table. I worked there until the end of the war until I could be released and return to shop work.

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