大象传媒

At the outbreak of war I took at job in a fairly large grocery store in the village. Until then, the staff were practically all men.
A lot of the men were called up as militia men at the age of 18.
I was only 19, and I was one of the girls who took the men's jobs at this store. Most of us did this.
This entailed going out every day collecting grocery orders and following on collecting the money after the groceries were delivered.
We had to deal with the point system, and with a gradual shortage of food this got difficult at times.
A number of us with boyfriends were eager to go to the forces or join them but were persuaded not to by the manager of the shop. However, we were overjoyed when an announcement came over the wireless (radio)that women working in food stores would only be exempt until the age of 21.
In due course, about 6 of us had our medicals and were told we would be called up in the near future.
My boyfriend was in the Royal Navy, and our wedding had been planned for September 1941, his next leave. This had to be cancelled because his ship the H.M.S Aurora had been sent to the Mediterranean.
In November 1941, the Aurora was one of the ships which helped destroy the Italian navy.
In April 1942 I recieved a telegram to say that the Aurora had been badly bombed and it was going into dry dock in Belfast. My boyfriend then told me that married men on the ship were being sent home on a fortnight's leave and he would be expected after that time to come home, and the wedding could go ahead. The wedding was planned for Monday April 27th 1942 and the previous Tuesday, call up papers arrived for me saying I had to report to Edinburgh on Saturday April 25th. I, myself, was prepared to go in the hope that I would find an officer and explain about the wedding and be allowed back home for the Monday. My father said this was a ridiculous idea and that I would never get back in time.
The manager of the shop said to leave it with him and he would ring Edinburgh to see what could be done.
He was informed that I would be given a fortnight's leave and would get it in writing before the weekend. This didn't happen but, on Saturday evening, as the shop was closing the post-mistress in the village came along with a late telegram confirming that I had 14 days leave.
The wedding went ahead and we went off on a week's honeymoon.
On return from the honeymoon we found that a telegram had come posting me as a deserter. My father had eventually got through to Edinburgh and sorted this out.
My husband's leave had been extended and he wasn't happy about me having to go to Edinburgh while he was at home, so we went into the ATS Office in Newgate street in Newcastle only to ask for further leave for me. The woman sergeant was very helpful and phoned Edinburgh and I could tell then that,by the answers she was giving to them (at the other end), that things weren't going ahead according to plan.I ended up discharged from the army.
I was really put out about this but my husband was over the moon. So back I had to go to the shop for the rest of the war, only doing fire watching and food de-contamination classes in case of gas attacks.
So there I was, called up, posted as a deserter, discharged and had never been inside the barracks.

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