大象传媒

In 1940 I was living in Kemsing, Kent, owing to the fact we had moved away from the blitz in London. I had worked for Snowdon Sons and Co on the Isle of Dogs since January 31st at aged 15. There was not any work going in Kemsing, so my sister Doris and I managed to get some work at Woolworths in Sevenoaks. I was serving on the spectacle counter; there were no eye tests in those days. People came in and tried several pairs of glasses. We gave them a card to read and when they could read the writing they paid 6d (2 陆 p) and went away well pleased. We didn鈥檛 work for long, as we were only taken on for Xmas. In 1941 I received a letter from Snowdons saying they were moving the office out of London and would I like to go to Crawley with them. Well, being so young, I didn鈥檛 want to leave my mum, but I had no choice. My Dad said I had go to, as the money I earned would be sent home to help keep the rest of the family. So in January 1941 with a very heavy heart I was on my way in a coach with all the office workers to a new life, which was to last for the next 5 years.

We arrived just outside Crawley at a beautiful big house named Broadfield. It had been snowing and everywhere looked like fairyland. From then on I never looked back. A little East End kid living in splendour. It was wonderful. I think there was about 30 of us 鈥� imagine that all living and working under the same roof. There was never any bad feeling amongst us; we all got on very well together. We each had a divan of our own!! A bit different from my upbringing, we had a three bedroom council house for a family of eight, 5 females in two beds in 1 room, hardly room to swing a cat round. My 2 brothers slept in a very small box room. My Dad, suffering with TB had to have a room of his own, so you can imagine what a contrast it was living in 鈥淏roadfield鈥� 鈥� super!

On the opposite side of the road was an army camp in a huge forest. Here also was another grand house named Tilgate. The troops were under canvas; the officers of course had the luxury of the house. All different regiments came and went, English, Newfoundlanders and Canadians. We would be asked to dances in the camp, which we enjoyed very much. Sometimes we would get an invitation from a camp farther away and we were transported in army trucks. We had to sign a death warrant before getting into the trucks!! We also ran dances at Broadfield and invited the soldiers back. There was a military hospital not far away and we would ask those who were not too sick to come along and join in as best they could. We also ran whist drives.

We always said it was safety in numbers when we went out to a dance at the Railway Hotel in Crawley. We went in a crowd and came home altogether. We would sing all the way home; it was almost as though we were carrying a 鈥榢eep out鈥� sign. There were not many serious romances; it was off with the old and on with the new. As for permissiveness, it didn鈥檛 exist. Often we were told we were too clean! Most of us were from the East End, so were brought up with a code of honour and would not have dared to do anything wrong. In a way we were a\admired for this and made many friendships through it. I really should not say this, but we enjoyed some of the war. We were safe and away from the bombing. We were very short of cash and didn鈥檛 always have the fare to go home weekends as much as we would have liked.

As the war progressed some of the girls were called up to the forces, ATS, NAAFI, etc. I think you had too volunteer for the WRENS. My best friend, Muriel, went into the NAAFI and I missed her very much. We were the two young ones. Snowdons was a Lubricant Co, so some of us were in a reserved occupation and I stayed until the war ended in 1945. I was the 21 years of age and returned to the Isle of Dogs, which was very hard to get adjusted to. However, in another 5 years, I was married at the age of 26 - as pure as the driven snow! I am now almost 80 so look back with fond memories of it all.

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