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When war broke out I was in service in Folkestone. I then moved to Hampton Court Palace as a cook to Rev. Verey. Though security was tight at the palace life carried on much as normal and there hardly seemed to be a war on at times.

As I did not want to be called up and then not have a choice which service I would be in, I volunteered for the WAAF’s. We were all sent to Morecombe for training and then to various stations round the country.

When we first arrived at a station we were allocated a bed in a Nissen hut. There was no choice, it was whichever one was vacant at the time. There were 14 beds each side and a round fireplace each end of the hut, which we sat round at night. At the head of each bed was a large wooden box, painted green, with a shelf over it from which to hang our uniform. Bedding had to be folded up each morning. It consisted of three ‘biscuits’, a large blanket which had to be folded lengthways and wrapped round the other blankets, and a pillow. These were all piled on top of each other at the foot of the bed.

I was a cook in the Sergeant’s Mess, except for a short time at Melksham when I was in the airmen’s mess until I requested a transfer back to the Sergeant’s Mess. We frequently had to cook for the pilots on the runways as they waited for the ‘scramble’. We used hay boxes and cooked the meals actually on the tarmac.

There were frequent dances in the Naafi’s with live bands usually made up from the ground staff. I went out with a drummer from one of them for quite a while, he lived in Haslemere. Anyone who loved dancing and was good at it was in great demand - and I was! I always had plenty of partners. The only dances I did not like were the foxtrot and the jitterbug and would sit those out. When they were on it gave me a chance to catch my breath and rest my feet! Occasionally a few of us would go to a dance at another station or to a local dance but the ones at the stations were all so good and held so frequently, there was no need to do so unless we wanted a change.

Once I accidentally posted my identity card home and had to wait until it was returned before I could venture off the station where I was based.

Food was plentiful on the stations and rationing was only noticed when on leave. The pilots were always provided with good nourishing meals. At Christmas we tried to provide full Christmas dinners with all the trimmings and Christmas cakes were made and decorated. For several people conditions on the stations was better than they were used to at home.

I made good friends with several other WAAF’s and still keep in touch with them today.

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