大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Ann Redgrave of Norfolk Adult Education鈥檚 reminiscence team on behalf of Betty Laird and was added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was born in Norwich in 1920 and brought up in Sheringham. My mother died at the age of 54 when I had just had my 18th birthday. My father died out in Shanghai in China when he was 40. When he died my mother had to teach to earn a living, and was placed in Upper Sheringham. I moved to Norwich with my sisters Joan and Kate a year before the war, after mother died. I wanted to be a nurse, but when I was 17 I had developed ulcerative colitis. So, at the age of 19, just before the war, I wasn鈥檛 allowed to work. At the age of 19 I went to work for Norwich Union Life Insurance. I was called up at the age of 22 and had to pass an intelligence test and a medical which involved seeing four doctors. When they found out that I had colitis they said I couldn鈥檛 join the forces. I was really disappointed. The Labour Exchange then said I could either go into munitions or join the NAAFI, so I joined the NAAFI as a trainee cook. It was really hard work. I had to get up really early to get all the breakfasts ready. I was in Horsham St Faiths and there were quite a few raids while we were up there. I had six weeks in the NAAFI before I decided to try and join the ATS. I went to the Labour Exchange and told them that the way I was working I could join the ATS. They looked at my papers and said that I had only passed my Medical at Grade 4 and that I should only be doing a light office job. So they put me onto the British Gaslight Company in Norwich, which was near Norwich market. I was interviewed by the chief clerk who asked if I could do maths, shorthand or type. I answered 鈥榥o鈥� to all these questions and his response was 鈥淵ou start on Monday鈥�! So I worked there until I got married at the age of 24.

After a while I joined the fire watching team, and later became an ambulance attendant, although I was never called out in an emergency. Our beds were not very comfortable 鈥� just a few blankets on a basic mattress on the floor - and we had to keep fully dressed in case we were called out. My sister Kate was also in the ambulance service and she was called out on the first night of the Blitz in Norwich. We had to learn First Aid and do exams in it, but I never had to use these skills.

I was in Norwich during the Blitz, four of us living in a block of flats. One night we were having a really giggly evening and I was playing the piano. The neighbours came up to join us and we were having a good time. When the air raid siren went we took no notice because it was always happening, but we were shocked to find that they really had it in for us that night. The warden came up and told us 鈥淵ou girls can鈥檛 go in the shelter now. We鈥檒l have to put you in the bottom flat underneath the stairs and under the Morrison Shelter in the downstairs flat鈥�. The woman in that flat was very pregnant and we wondered whether she might give birth. The next night we decided not to stay in Norwich and went out to friends in Horning, but it was dreadfully cold - really uncomfortable. When we got back the next day I told Joan that I wasn鈥檛 going out anymore, but that night we decided to cycle out to friends on a farm in Marlingford. Again it was dreadful, so after that we stayed in Norwich.

There was a lot of bomb damage around the Ipswich Road area and near the old Norfolk and Norwich hospital. We lived near Trafford Road. A fire bomb landed on our flats, so we were lucky that it wasn鈥檛 high explosive. Many of the big stores in Norwich were destroyed in the bombing. It was a small city to sustain so much bombing so we really felt the loss.

There were a lot of American bases around. I was seeing a friend onto the train one evening at Thorpe Station and cut through the back streets by Bonds on my way home. Some Americans were just getting into their lorries to be taken back to their bases after coming into Norwich for the dances. One American jumped off a lorry which was just pulling away and grabbed hold of me. He held me really tight so that I couldn鈥檛 move. Fortunately I managed to get free of him and ran away. Goodness knows what would have happened if I hadn鈥檛 got away. He shouted after me 鈥淵ou stupid little fool鈥�. But not all Americans were like that. There were some nice ones, and some of my friends married them.

In those days, while I was working at the British Gaslight Company, I used to have to sweep out the gateway in the mornings. The area was full of the signs of couples having been there at night, which I had to sweep up.

The army held their dances at the Arlington Rooms and lots of young people went to the 鈥楽amson and Hercules鈥� for dancing. I occasionally went to the cinema, but most of my time was taken up with work rather than entertainment. I played the piano a lot and listened to the radio 鈥� including Lord Haw Haw. I had to be at work by 8.30 in the morning. Whoever got home first in the evening would prepare the tea.

I served meals and cups of tea to soldiers down at St Andrews Hall. We made loads of rock buns for them. It was a free social club where all the forces, English and American, would go for a game of billiards. It was open most of the time and we would work until 10 o鈥檆lock at night. It was always very busy and they would hold dances as well. This was where I met my husband. My sister Kate went first and met a man named Ainsley. I went with her the next time and it was love at first site between me and him. He went off to North Africa and Italy and then wrote to me to say that he was being sent home to train for the Japanese war. While he was on his way back to England the Japanese war ended and so he didn鈥檛 have to go. We got engaged whilst walking up St Stephens Street. I went up to meet his parents in Perth on the Monday, and then got married by special license at St Albans church on the Friday. I war a pretty blue dress for the wedding. I had put a few things aside as he had said we would get married as soon as he got home. He was then stationed in Newark. I went up there for a couple of weeks with him, then for a holiday in Sheringham. I then returned to Norwich. After the war Ainsley returned to his job in Perth working in menswear, and eventually we moved to Africa where he worked in a department store as head of the menswear department. I had to wait nine months before joining him.

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