大象传媒

Father wouldn`t give me permission to go into the services but my mother, who was of an understanding disposition, signed the form for the Wrens without his knowing; he gave in gracefully when my papers came.
I was trained at Droxford. We were taught Morse to a speed of 25 words a minute, all the Q code and procedures. There were two wireless telegraphy centres, one at HMS Flowerdown outside Winchester and the other at Scarborough; I worked at both.
I did Y intercept work - I used to listen in and pick up communications from U boats and other German shipping. We worked in a huge room and each of us had our own frequency. When you heard something - they would broadcast every hour - you shouted out and control picked it up. All was in Morse and coded.
Eventually there was a call for volunteers to work in Ceylon and I chose to go. We had training in London so that we could cope with Japanese Morse which, like Russian Morse, was different from ours.
We had a really good time in Ceylon: the tea planters were very hospitable and had us to stay when we had a bit of leave and for Christmas. The climate was lovely.
I once flew illegally to Madras! We were very friendly with the RAF pilots and one of my friends and I voiced our desire to visit India. The pilots were going to Madras to collect gin for Christmas and said they`d smuggle us aboard. When the time came my friend backed out, but I
was picked up in a jeep and got on the plane. On arrival in Madras
I was hidden in the men`s loo, then taken to the officers` mess where I was signed in as 3rd officer! Six officers and I went off and had a super night out and collected the gin. I discovered that I had been put in a room with an officer so, being only a Wren, it was necessary for me to creep in to bed after her and remain doggo until she had got up the next morning. Several days later at the Christmas party back at the base the Group Captain in charge was dancing with me and asked, 鈥淒id you enjoy Madras?鈥�. I must have looked astonished and he said, 鈥淒on`t you think I know everything that happens on my station?鈥� !
Unfortunately my health deteriorated and I had to be invalided home. I sailed on a New Zealand hospital ship to Egypt where I spent two months in a hospital in the desert waiting for transport back to the UK. I was given permission to go to Cairo with a friend. We stayed at the YWCA in a magnificent house and saw the pyramids and the sphinx and everything.
Eventually, on my 21st birthday, I arrived back on the Clyde from where I took the train south, sitting up all night, to Hazlar Hospital in Portsmouth
I feel I had a fascinating and, at times, fun war.

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