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I came from Elgin in Morayshire and I was one of six childtren. I had four brothers—one was badly wounded at Arnhem. And a sister. She was married and living in Yorkshire when the war started. Her husband was killed in Belgium during the war. He was in the Coldstream Guards and they had two children. I was the only one at home. My Dad had a small-holding small farm and I worked on that with him.

It was a very odd time—1940—the same year as the Battle of Britain and I remember hearing on the radio that night that they badly needed munitions workers. They said that so many planes were being shot down. So the next day I went to the labour exchange in Forres (a small town 12 miles from Elgin). And I volunteered. They said I could go to Coventry but then they changed it to Hereford. So I went there. They paid my fare and I got a 5/- ticket home once a year. When I got to Hereford, I was met by a lady who took us to my lodgings. It was a family and they were very nice. It was right opposite Hereford football ground (Elgin Street). My job was filling 25lb shells with yellow powder and compacting them. It was a subsidiary of Woolwich Arsenal.

I stayed there for two years but I wanted a change. My hair had started to go an orange colour, and I just fancied a change. They said I could do engineering or go in the Forces. So I chose engineering and went to Croydon. They told me not to accept a wage of less than 1/3d an hour. One company in Leatherhead paid the best, so there I went. My digs cost me 25/-, that was full board, and I ate at the factory.

I was glad that I made the move as it gave me confidence in myself and independence. The munitions factory was a dangerous place to work—more than once I saw bodies being taken out on stretchers—they were people who’d been killed in explosions in the factory. It was such an explosive environment, it wasn’t the Germans. If they had got us, they'd have blown the whole town up. I had a friend who was killed in Coventry in the munitions—I was at school with her.

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