大象传媒

Disclaimer: This story was submitted to the People's War site by Phil Sealey of the Somerset County Museum Team on behalf of Mrs Ena Hawkins and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Ena James married George Hawkins on Thursday 26th June 1941 at St John's Church, Bridgwater. On the following Monday Ena was required to register for war work or service in the auxiliary services. Her husband was in a reserved occupation, an engineering precision grinder, working for local firm W.F.Wills Ltd on Salmon Parade. She was placed at the same works, and for the next three years worked in the toolroom along with chief tool-maker Bert Redstone. Bert designed and made all the special purpose equipment on which precision components were manufactured, that included all brass depth charge detonators and extractors for removing shells from guns. Ena remembers the accuracy to which the components had to be machined to pass the inspector, but wryly tells of how when engineers from another company, who made similar parts, visited Bridgwater, they demonstrated with a hammer how they got some of their components through inspection! People worked long hours at Wills, Ena was on a 10 3/4-hour shift system on the basis of two weeks on day work and then two weeks on night work. On the night shift, 7.00 pm - 7.15 am, which included tea and canteen breaks, the workers were locked in the premises and in the event of an air raid took shelter underneath part of the factory.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.