´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People’s War Site by Suzanne Longstone and has been added to the website on behalf of Rosina Bramble with her permission and she fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

In 1939 Rose was aged 17 and in domestic service as a housemaid. Her father died around the beginning of the war, so she returned home to Strode Road in Stamshaw to get a job and help her mother out. Her older brother was in the Navy and she had two younger brothers at home. She started work at Jones and King — a Wholesale Chemists in Portsmouth. She had been there a few months working in the warehouse when the Manager, short of delivery men as they were being called up to the Services, decided to employ Rose as a driver. Rose had hardly been in a car before in her life, but her training was two (yes, TWO!) outings with the Manager teaching her the basics and then she was on her own! Her pay went up from 17/6d (87p) a week to £1 10s (£1.50) a week, a great help to the family.

Rose had a daily route in and around Portsmouth. One Saturday she loaded up the van as usual and set off to a Southsea Chemist. While she was driving the Air Raid Siren went off, so she parked the van in a side street and went into the communal shelter on Southsea Common. After half an hour the All Clear was sounded so Rose retrieved the van, relieved that it was undamaged, and re-started her trip. When she got to the Chemists all the shop windows were broken and the Chemist himself was sitting inside in a state of shock. Rose was stunned. She made the delivery and got out quickly. It was only afterwards that she realised she had done nothing to help, and felt very guilty. She was only a teenager, and had reacted without thinking. Another incident was later in the War, in the months leading up to D-Day. The whole of the South Coast was crammed with servicemen, waiting for the invasion. Their billets were often in hedges so that they weren’t easily spotted from the air. Rose remembers driving around some country lanes just outside Portsmouth when she drove past a whole crowd of soldiers stripped to the waist, washing and shaving! She got embarrassed, but even more embarrassing was the soldiers whistling and calling out to her when they realised it was a girl driving the van!

Rose met her husband when she started as a voluntary driver in the Civil Defence which he had moved to from the Home Guard. They worked during the day and met at meetings in the evening. Eventually there were rooms in the building for men, women and nurses so that you could stay in case there were emergencies in the night. You slept on a stretcher laid between two chairs and were allowed three blankets. If you were needed and stayed the night you were paid 1/6d, and any extra money was a help. Rose and her husband married when she was 20. She borrowed her dress, headdress and veil but bought her own shoes and stockings. The reception was at her house with sandwiches and a wedding cake. They were allowed extra margarine, sugar and milk to make the cake with, but it had to be a chocolate cake as there was not enough sugar for the white icing. It tasted lovely! They stayed for four nights with a cousin who lived in Windsor for their honeymoon.

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