大象传媒

On leaving school, I entered in the Civil Service in the Ministry of Labour and in those days, we had to go where we were sent. During the war, I was stationed at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire as Senior Woman Officer. The Women鈥檚 section was 鈥榦ut-housed鈥� in a church hall with a tin roof. One day, an order arrived asking for fifteen, part time Firewomen volunteers. I said to the girls on the staff,
鈥淟et鈥檚 volunteer. I鈥檓 sure we鈥檇 feel much safer in a Fire Station than in the Church Hall.鈥� They chose twelve of us and because I was the Senior Woman Officer, I had to wear a red stripe on my uniform.
We were then stationed in East Anglia where we took our turns at night duties. Of course, when we weren鈥檛 on duty, we were still on call if the siren went. Being situated in this part of the country, you can imagine this happened quite often.
I was getting ready for bed, one night as the siren sounded and due to the fact that I had, had a hectic day in the office, I didn鈥檛 put on my uniform. I just lifted my helmet and gas mask and made for the Fire Station. There was a Jerry plane, captured in the searchlights, but I just kept on running. The Wardens repeatedly shouted for me to stop and take cover. I arrived at the station breathless, and one of the fireman said to me.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 wrong Janet? That plane couldn鈥檛 have possibly dropped anything on you.鈥�
I was then greeted with howls of laughter as I answered,

鈥淧lane? I鈥檓 not scared of any plane, I鈥檓 scared of the dark.鈥�

Janet MacHardy.
Glasgow.

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