大象传媒

I was 19 years of age when war broke out. Living at home with Mum & Dad, six brothers and one sister. My oldest sister died when I was a tiny girl.
My one brother Tom was already called up with the first Militia Worcestershire Regiment which was the first upset in the family.
And so on that Sunday September 3rd 1939 we all sat by our battery radio waiting for Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to give an important announcement with some dread. And so it was as we all feared 鈥� War with Germany. No one spoke a word for quite a while. Then the tears began to fall from mother鈥檚 eyes affecting us all and she quietly said, 鈥淥h, my poor boys.鈥� Knowing they were all within the ages of being called up.
And so they were in turn, three in the R.A.F. one in the Army, one in the Fire Service and the eldest in a reserved occupation. My sister was weaving blankets in the local Carpet Factory and I was employed at 25 MU R.A.F. Hartlebury in the Master Provision Office, after working at Worth鈥檚 Carpet Factory.
After the initial shock of the news I鈥檓 afraid my mind was more on the date I had that night to take it all in at first. We were told to always carry that horrible gas mask we had been provided with and then it all sunk in when we had an air raid warning though a false alarm 鈥� very scary; and so between 1939 鈥� 1943 each member of our family were married. I would have liked to join the Land Army, when we were notified to do war work, but being the last but one at home I didn鈥檛 want to leave altogether, especially for mother鈥檚 sake.
Life changed so much, we had total blackout, no street lights, food rationing, which gradually got worse. Queuing was a must at all the provisioning shops and coupons needed for most things, including our clothes. I made quite a few of my own altering older things to look different and new. It was quite a worrying time for mother trying to make meals out of such small rations. Though dad did grow vegetables so we had plenty of those and she did wonders with them all.
I worked in a very large office of about 50 people, civilians and RAF and all from different places in the country. The work consisted of the orders arriving in the office for aircraft spares needed for operational purposes, which we processed to the sheds to despatch the goods all over the world. Sometimes we had E.N.S.A. concerts in the canteen at lunchtime. Occasionally a star of stage or film would come and once a concert was organised of our local talent, (I sang 鈥淪and In My Shoes鈥�) held at night in Head Quarters Canteen. We had a large audience as civilians were allowed to visit and they actually clapped me - well, it was great fun and a laugh.
Saturday night was always special I went with other girls to the Gliderdrome for dancing and later on the local Baths became our favourite dancing venue. We had lots of partners from the Army Pay Corps soldiers who were stationed locally. I remember Glen Miller鈥檚 band playing once. Going to the Cinema was another great favourite past time, for nine pence one could live in a fanciful world with stars like Clark Gable, Spencer Tracey, and John Wayne to name a few. Though it was just a once a week occasion, couldn鈥檛 afford any more. Early on in the war sometimes an air raid siren would yell out and if in the Central Cinema at the time the wonderful organ would rise from the pits and we would all join in the singing until the all clear.
It was a depressing time hearing of the fall of France and Dunkirk evacuation.
The first three years of the war always seemed to be bad news. I recall one day getting off the bus and finding my dad waiting for me which was such a surprise and after asking why, it seems there was a rumour spreading around that German Parachutes were dropped near about so I suppose he wanted to see I got home safe. Just rumour I suppose. One Saturday morning we found a large piece of shrapnel under our kitchen window, a house two gardens away had been bombed in the night. It seems they jettisoned the bombs to make a quick get away 鈥� no one was killed though.
We could also see the lightened sky when Coventry was being bombed, though miles away from here.
It was exciting getting letters from all our boys from different war zones and one by one they had short leaves to get married, and I was bridesmaid to them all. Occasionally a friend would turn up at the office very upset broken hearted as husbands or sweethearts were killed. It affected us all for a long time too. They were so brave to carry on doing their work. We had various games and collections to help buy a Spitfire. Also we knitted gloves for the Russian soldiers (1939 was a severe winter) and bought Saving Certificates and part of our wages were held back as Post War Credits, we were repaid after the war.
But in that year my friend and I met two nice young men. The one I recognised, he always gave me a flirty wink and smile, and so we became friendly for a while. Later I learned his friend Bert had volunteered for the RAF as a driver and was posted very quickly to the British Expeditionary Force in France; and we all soon learned what a disaster that was. With ships of all descriptions sailing to rescue of as many of the troops as possible before the Germans arrived. Bert I know had a hair-raising time in the few months they were there dodging the Germans trying to survive. It was the end of June before he reached England. Then we met up again in 1941 when he had leave, and after many letters, meeting on 48 or 24 hour leaves, we realised we wanted always to be together. We fell in love and were engaged in 1942.
The news everywhere was quite depressing but listening to Churchill鈥檚 speech, 鈥淲e will fight them on the beaches we will never surrender.鈥� boosted our hopes. Then in 1943 Bert was given a weeks leave and we were married and after a few months he was off again. Landing in Italy, still in the RAF but dressed in khaki and was attached to the 8th Army supporting them through Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia, and away from home until demob in January 1946, with his civy suit in a cardboard box.

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