大象传媒

I was living in Leicester when the war broke out; just 17 years old and working in a silk factory. We were dying pure silk for parachutes. I loved the work and got well paid.

Then I became a cadet nurse at the Royal Infirmary in Leicester. Our first entry onto the wards was to empty the bedpans. Later we were taught how to lay up the instrument trays. Then how to lay out the dead and help in childbirth. The etiquette of a nurse in those days was never to speak unless spoken to.

Mother had cancer so I had to leave nursing to care for her at home. She was in pain; I sat with her day and night. Our world was falling apart. Mother died on Good Friday, 1940.

My boyfriend, Fred, survived his boat being bombed. He was saved from the beaches at Dunkirk. After three weeks in Leicester, he was sent to Blandford in Dorset. I went to visit him and we got engaged. He was 23, I was only 18. Life was precarious; our youth had already gone.

In September 1940 we got married and moved to Bournemouth. The war was getting worse so we had to take what happiness we had. I got a job at a wool factory in Winton making jumpers. I had to catch three separate buses to get there.

Three bombs dropped on Bournemouth and a school was hit. Devastating. The factory where I worked was also hit. There were a lot of casualities that night.

Afterwards I worked in a forces laundry, each day from 8am-6pm. It was very hot and steamy; some of the girls got scabies. At lunchtime I would dash home for a wash as it was so hot. The boss wasn't very nice and I was told off for singing. Seven of us worked there; you couldn't leave or be dismissed. I was there for five years. There were some lighter moments though. I found a gold watch in a pyjama pocket, also chocolate, letters and chewing gum.

During my first year in Bournemouth I went to a chapel and took up singing. On a secondhand bicycle which I bought for 拢1, I cycled over to the chapel to enjoy the service. We often prayed for peace and an end to the war. On one occasion the bombing started at the same time that we were praying for peace. The planes were very low but we weren't dropped on.

(PK)

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