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In 1936 when I was 15 I started work in Painton’s. This was situated in an old house in Newland Street in Northampton town centre. This was where the early radar sets were being made, but I did not know what we were making because it was all so secret.

When I was a girl I watched my father make a radio. It had a wooden base, 4 valves, and a condenser. He bent all the different coloured wires according to a blueprint and linked the wires up. The front was ebonite with several dials. It was powered by an accumulator because we had no electricity in our house. Perhaps this is what gave me the interest in wiring and electronics.

There were 6 girls working on winding wire on to porcelain tube resistors. It was very interesting work that I really enjoyed. There were many thicknesses of wires; they were up to a maximum of 100,000 ohms. We had to ensure that the value at the end of each tube was within a 2-4% variance limit.

In 1939, just before the war started, the factory was moved to a new site in Bembridge Drive, Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Once the war started all the factory windows were blacked out. The shift pattern changed from 2 to 3 shifts – we used to work 2 weeks on days followed by 2 weeks on nights (7.30pm – 7.00am). The 3 shifts were 6.00am-2.00pm, 2.00pm- 10.00pm & 10.00pm – 6.00am) – this shift system continued until the end of the war. In a shift we had two half hour breaks, there was a canteen that provided good meals, and they also gave us halibut oil to keep us healthy. We worked 6 days per week, and we were never allowed any holidays during the war. I worked in this factory until 1949.

I remember when the bomber crashed in Northampton town centre. I was at home, it was about 5.00am when we heard the drone of a plane, we could tell that it was in trouble, it seemed as though he was looking for somewhere to land. The pilot bailed out and he landed on the Kingsthorpe Recreation ground, unfortunately the parachute failed to open and he was killed. The plane crashed in Gold Street, opposite the Grand Hotel. I remember getting the first bus of the day at St James Depot to go to work, it could not go up Gold Street because it was blocked off due to the crashed plane, and it had to go up Horse Market instead.

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