´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People’s War site by ^{About links} on behalf of Florence Bunn and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was twenty-five when World War Two began and had been married in
1937. I lived in Silfield on the outskirts of Wymondham and worked in the laundry
on the Norwich Road.
There were two laundries in Wymondham then and two brush works, my husband
worked at the Briton Brush factory. There are now houses where the laundry was in
a road named Margaret Reeve Close.It was pleasant working in the laundry and my job before the war was starching and ironing the wing and stiff collars, also the shirts with stiff fronts. I still had to do some of these during the war but the biggest job was the soldiers’ laundry. I don’t know where the soldiers were stationed but they sent their washing in bundles. It was not my job to sort it out but it was not a very pleasant task — all those smelly socks and pants! There was a big drying room but whenever the weather was fine the washing was dried outside and was even spread on the grass and bushes.
Wymondham was very quiet during the war and I only once got caught out in an air
raid, then we hopped off our bikes and stood really close to a tree. My daughter was born during an air raid warning but I can’t remember a bomb.
When my sister was married in 1939 she carried a white gas mask case and had two evacuees as bridesmaids. They came back to Wymondham for her Golden Wedding Anniversary.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.