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Memories from Doreen Blake - Maiden name Bishop
(Nickname Bish)

Royal Engineers Records And Pay Office, Brighton 7 / 9 / 39 - 14/ 4/ 43

Although I didn’t realise this at the time, Friday 1st September 1939 was the day that changed my whole life, the closing of one door and another opening into an uncertain future.

This was the day I left my home town of Gillingham in Kent, having lived there for 16 years. My married sister, her little boy aged 2 and myself were heading for Brighton, responding to a Telegram from my parents to ‘come at once’.
The Medway towns were being evacuated, incase of war breaking out and Brighton was a receiving centre for evacuees. It was a traumatic time for everyone, we arrived on the Friday, I was 17 on the Saturday and War broke out on the Sunday (3rd September) a date most of us will never forget.

Brighton was completely different from Gillingham and I hated it .
I had left all my friends behind, including a boy-friend, who I missed very much.

My father & mother had moved to Brighton in the June, when the Royal Engineers Records Office moved from Chatham, where they had been for many years. During the 1914 - 1918 War my father was a Regular Serving Soldier with the R.E’s, fighting in France and after the Battle of Mons he developed Rheumatic Fever. He returned to Blighty with a heart defect which left him unfit for Active Service. His rank was C.S.M. ( Company Sergeant Major) so he was transferred to R.E. Records Office where he carried out clerical duties until his Discharge in 1918.
Between the Wars he continued to work as a Clerical Officer, and after the move to Brighton he seemed to settle into his new town, very well. Not so his daughter, I was a bored teenager, out of work and miserable!

However, as a huge recruitment drive was taking place at R.E.Records, my father suggested I take an Apptitude Test for a clerical position. I took the Test, on September 7th, Passed and started work the same day. It seemed very strange at first, being so young, I felt a bit isolated, as most of the new staff were older than me. Thankfully not for long, as soon other girls, around my age group, started work, new friendships were made which lasted throughout the War and after.

We started work at 8.30am and woe betide anyone who was late. ! The Caretaker cum General Factotum was Mr. Friedguard, a real stickler for punctuality and at 8.30am on the dot the door would be locked. Any late comers had to ring the bell to get in, and sign the Late Book, and it was the same at 1.30pm too.! Three signings in one week meant an interview with the Colonel, which no one looked forward to, although he was a pleasant man inclined to be rather aloof, and certainly did not suffer fools gladly. Luckily I always managed to scrape in by the skin of my teeth, and avoided the dreaded interview ..! Mr Friedguard was also in charge of the Blackout, I think he was a retired Naval man as his stentorian tones announcing ‘ Darken the Ship, please’ echoed all round the building, at Blackout times, and one obeyed with alacrity.

The main office was situated in a very imposing building known locally as ‘The College’, as at one time it had been an Ecclesiastical College and the name stuck. It was quite a landmark, standing on the corner of Viaduct and Ditchling Road. It is now a Business Centre,and outwardly has hardly changed from when the War Office occupied it, during and after the War. Other buildings in the area were also taken over, Sylvan Hall, Hill Lodge, parts of Hanover Crescent and Terrace, and several others. Hill Lodge was situated in Ditchling Road, almost opposite The College, it was a fine old Regency house standing in it’s own grounds well back from the road.

It was here I did my Fire Watching duties, Rosters were printed and circulated and when your name appeared you did your duty, which lasted all night. There were several of us male & female, it made no difference as we had all been trained to deal with incendiary bombs and the subsequent fires. When the air raid warning sounded the men watched outside and we women watched from the upstairs windows, reporting anything we saw to cause alarm. It was rather eerie, especially if it was a wild and windy night, with the trees in the grounds making a noise through the swaying branches. Some people said it was haunted, and it must have had quite a history, as in it’s time it was once a Private Girls School, the names of past pupils could still be seen in a downstairs cloakroom. Then we were told it had once belonged to a Kate Merrick, a famous, or infamous, Night Club Queen, this was back in Victorian times or Edwardian.

It had a certain atmosphere about it, and one thing I remember most vividly, was the beautiful staircase which rose from the entrance hall, to the floor above. Of graceful proportions and under the wooden handrail the wrought iron balusters curved outwards, I was told this was to allow the ladies wearing crinolines, to move up and down the stairs without damaging their voluminous skirts .!
Sadly after the war, this lovely house was pulled down to make way for the flats which occupy that site today.

But, I digress and back to the College, I found myself in the Post Room where the re-direction of mail took place. There were several girls and myself tracing letters, packages & parcels which had been posted to soldiers who had been moved to other units, and needed forwarding, It was interesting work dealing with units at home and overseas, we worked from Part 2 Orders which held the records of all serving soldiers, wherever they happened to be, and their various postings. Every card represented a soldier with their name, rank and number written clearly at the top, these were then filed in order of rank, then in alphabetical order, this was crucial as misfiling wasted so much time. These cards made up units or companys (coys for short) and how personnel were traced, so the mail could be sent on. Every unit and coy had their own wooden box and the cards placed carefully inside and it was from these boxes the men we were looking for, were found.

All went very smoothly and the mail was soon despatched, but then came Dunkirk, and we soon realised that the war was a terrible reality, and it affected us all pretty badly. Sack upon sack soon filled the Post Room, most mail had been damaged in transit, with the contents spilling out of some, and the addresses difficult to read. It was these contents which had us in tears, locks of hair, tied with ribbon, Rosary Beads, photographs of babies, pretty girls, letters, Birthday Cards, Prayer Books, and Poems such intimate items for strangers to see. But we carried on repacking with stouter paper and stronger string, doing our best to decipher names, ranks, and numbers so the precious parcels, packages & letters could be sent on their way, with a prayer they would arrive safely. The worse part was when the Part 2 Orders listed the men who were ‘Killed in Action’ or ‘Missing in Action’ or ‘Missing presumed Dead’ this was really harrowing to young girls, but it was war time and we just had to get on with it.

But, out of working hours, we had a great social life, going dancing at The Dome, or The Regent Ballroom, and a good time was had , dancing the night away with so many partners to choose from .! Service men from all over the World, Canadians, Poles, Free French, Australians, New Zealanders and our own ‘ boys ‘ in the Army, Navy , Merchant Navy, Royal Marines, & Air Force..Syd Dean & his Band, played at The Regent, and Alan Green & his Band, played at the Dome, with Douglas Reeve at the Organ, when the Band had a break, Non-stop dancing to tunes like, Tangerine, Room 504, Every night about this time, Amapola, and of course In the Mood great for jiving.!
Always a lovely happy atmosphere, not too many fights, as that often happened at ‘Sherrys’ which had quite a reputation. As well as dancing there were loads of cinemas to choose from and in spite of the Blackout we all found our way around in the dark, with our torch and gas mask, always at the ready.

Gas Masks were an essential item in the early days of the war. We often had Gas Mask drill & at a special signal we all had to don our masks as quickly as possible and work in them for 15 minutes. It was quite hilarious, as the trapped air inside the mask often made a rude noise as it was forced out, usually by a sneeze. The mask smelt of rubber & the Perspex window often misted up and it was difficult to see through. They were held by straps at the back of the head which had to be adjusted correctly, once comfortable they hopefully stayed in that position until the drill was over.

We had our share of scares too, when the ‘Tip and Run’ raiders would fly in low over the sea, drop their bombs, then off. These raids seem to happen during day light hours and they did a terrific amount of damage, sometimes without any warning. On such a day I was walking along a corridor when I heard what I thought was coke being delivered, out in the yard, to stoke up the boilers. When suddenly someone shouted ‘Get down, Get down’ so I immediately dropped to the floor, then I learned we were being machine gunned, and our building was being peppered with bullets, what a blessing our walls were so thick as very little damage was done.. It was all over in a minute, and believe it was a lone raider just proving something to himself, or showing off .!

The College was targeted again in 1941 or 1942, I am not quite sure which. This incident happened about lunch time, and we all had a miraculous escape. Our lunch hour was 12.30 to 1.30 and as soon as the doors opened, at 12.30, we streamed out of the building , racing to catch buses, go shopping, or grab a snack, as an hour soon went. On this particular day, so we were told afterwards a raider flew in low , dropped a bomb which ricocheted off our roof, straight onto a row of little houses in Rose Hill Terrace opposite, destroying the lot and killing a number of people. If this raid had happened 10 or 15 minutes later, the casualties would have been a lot more, with many killed by the blast. As it was we did have people injured by flying glass, falling masonry, and dirt and dust swirling everywhere, getting in our hair and eyes, so we couldn’t see properly, bruised heads and limbs as we dived for cover under our work tables. It was utter chaos, no mobile phones in those days, no ordinary phones either in our homes unless one was rich or important. My poor mother suffered the tortures of the damned, as rumours flew around that The College had received a direct hit with many killed .! Later that day, when Dad & I managed to get home, the look of relief on Mum’s face, said it all and we all thanked God we had been spared.

During all this time I had found myself a new boy-friend - Alan, who delivered our Newspapers every day. His parents owned the local Newsagents.
They also had a splendid lending library and I think I must have been their best customer, as I always had my head stuck in a book. Alan and I became friends, going to the cinema or for walks, getting to know his parents and he mine. And to cut a long story short, we eventually married on May 6th 1943, and my time at R.E. Records was over, as I became an assistant in the family business instead.

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