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During that early summer I was working for my Higher School Certificate, before leaving school for good at the end of the summer term in August.
I continued my school work on my own, sometimes sitting in the garden of the Sandhurst Post office if the weather was nice. Sometimes I went to London with my father in the car - we still had our petrol coupons for the ½ gallon of extra petrol ration- and while my Father went round what were left of the butcher's shops, I went to collect more work from various 'school houses ' in the vicinity of the bombed school. These houses were the 'headquarters' for a member of staff according to her subject, and we went from house to house giving in the work we had completed, and collecting the next assignment. As far as I was concerned, this usually took all morning, then we — my Father and I, and sometimes my Mother too, if she had come with us- had a makeshift lunch in our own house. Sometimes the gas or electricity would have been cut off due to fractured pipes after a bomb had fallen. If the electricity was on, but no gas, we turned the electric fire in the hall onto its back and put a pan of soup, or baked beans (a staple wartime food) onto the grid to cook. Then we would set off back to Sandhurst in the early afternoon. Sometimes there were V1 warnings, sometimes not. Daylight raids were less common now.
On the days when I did not go to London, and I was working under the shade of an apple tree in the Sandhurst garden, our cats, Pixie and Rusty played in the field behind, and sometimes brought home a baby rabbit. If it appeared uninjured, it was taken to the far end of the field and released.
In July I sat my Higher School Certificate exams, having my London board of Examiners' papers sent by post to the school .This was Kendrick Girls' school, Reading, where the girls sat the Oxford syllabus exam, which was different from the London syllabus. I had had to find a school myself which would let me sit with them, as no one could do it for me. I remember being panic stricken on the first morning when the 9 am post had not come, and my papers were not at the school. However, the post finally arrived at 9.30 am, and I was allowed the extra time to finish the morning 3 hour paper.
The early mornings were becoming colder, and in those days cars had no heating system. My Mother filled two hot water bottles (stone ones!) and we put these inside two foot muffs and put our feet inside on the journey.
In September the V2 rockets started to come over. They travelled silently and at great speed, so there was no warning of where or when they would drop. For as long as they lasted, until the launching sites were captured or destroyed by the Allies after D-Day, an average of 200 per month came over.
One day my Father and I had been in London once again when one of the first rockets landed in Chiswick. At first no-one knew what the enormous explosion had been, but the news soon spread of yet another of Hitler's deadly secret weapons. They caused a tremendous amount of damage
After leaving school in the August of 1944, I had been due to start my nursing career at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond St. The night before I was due to enter the Training School we all returned to Acton to sleep. However, that night a V2 rocket exploded in mid-air over our area, with an ear-shattering , reverberating roar after we were all in bed (not in the shelter)
My parents decided that they didn't want me working in the centre of London while more V2's were likely to come over, and back we went to Sandhurst! Matron agreed to keep my place for the following year.
In the meantime, I had now, aged 18 years, to do my bit for the war effort. With the 'choice' of a munitions' factory or similar work, or some sort of nursing post, I obviously chose to go as an Auxiliary nurse in nearby Frimley Cottage Hospital, about 4 miles from Sandhurst. Having regularly helped in the Dispensary at Acton Hospital, as previously mentioned, I already had a little insight into Hospital life. At Frimley I was thrown in at the deep end, with a vengeance. By this time endless convoys of trucks, tanks, personnel and equipment of all sorts were on the move continuously towards the coast to back up the D-Day invasion which had already begun. The small hospital had a whole 30 bed ward set aside for battle casualties. Each bed was ready made up and each day each bed had a freshly filled hot water bottle placed inside. As it turned out, thankfully, the beds were never needed the expected casualties were able to be treated in Hospitals nearer the coastal ports.
My parents were still living over the Sandhurst post office and in my (very meagre) off-duty, I often cycled home for an hour or two, or a half day off. Sometimes my Mother met me in Camberley and we had a look round the shops and a cup of tea in a cafe before I returned to duty.
Once a fortnight I got a 'day off, though this mostly started at 2pm one day and finished at 2pm the next. Very rarely did I get a whole day off. My 'take home' pay was £4 -8 - 4d a month! (£4.42p)
When I finally started my training in October 1945 after the war had ended, the Salary of Probationers was £75 per annum, rising to £96 10sh on completion of training according to age and length of service.
However, I have got ahead of myself. Christmas came and went quietly for us, and the patients. We did the best we could after 6 years of war with a few home-made decorations in the wards. There were very few luxuries available by this time with which to celebrate, what we hoped would be, and thankfully was, the last Christmas of the war.
May 8th was V E Day. I was on duty when news came through that there was to be a special broadcast on the wireless (no TV then) at 3pm. And so came the longed-for news that at last the war in Europe was finally over. (It was to be 3 more months of course, before the Japanese surrender)
I left Frimley in August 1945 and we finally moved back to our house in Acton. My childhood was behind me and I prepared to enter the Training School of Great Ormond St Hospital. So began my nursing training and my lifetime's career.

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