大象传媒

Jean Osborne was one of those who enjoyed the entertainment that wartime Westgate had to offer - the 鈥渟ixpenny hops鈥� and visits to the cinema, which were often interrupted by air raid warnings, which meant leaving the cinema. As she said, 鈥渋t could take a week to see a film!鈥� the cinema was in the Town Hall Building.

Jean Osborne (Nee Horton) - was born on 6th June 1924 and left school in 1938, just before the war broke out in 1939. 鈥淚 was in domestic service for Mrs Charles Hawtrey, along with five other people who worked for her. I was the housemaid and was paid 拢2 a month, which went a long way in those days. I also had a wardrobe of clothes.
Then for a short period of three weeks I worked at the sausage factory at Sarre, which made sausages for the Royal Navy. I found this very interesting work, then I moved onto working for Mr Phillips, the tailors at 55 Canterbury Road, Westbrook. It was there that I received my official call up I was given the option of three jobs:
1. Working as porter on the railway station
2. Working in a factory, making electric light bulbs
3. Joining the Land Army

I chose the Land Army because it meant plenty of fresh air. I had a medical and went to Littlebourne, near Canterbury. I worked for Mr Alec Rose, who later sailed round the world single-handed and became a knight. He operated a Market Garden Farm and it meant plenty of hard work. I started at 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning and we were given bicycles to use everyday to get to work.
We had a nice landlady in our accommodation whose name was Cora. She fed us well despite all the rationing that was going on. Double Summer Time was in operation, so we had daylight late into the night. I remember seeing the doodlebugs flying overhead and we waited to hear the engine stop, then an explosion a few seconds later.
On one occasion one dropped very near to our billets and shattered all the windows, but luckily no harmed came to any of us.
On another occasion I remember bombs being dropped over Westgate and saw the German pilot in the cockpit. I watched the 鈥渄og-fights鈥� over Manston and saw the planes coming down in flames. I also witnessed formations of German bombers and fighters making their journey to bomb London.
Winston Churchill was a great leader and we always had to get home to hear his speeches on the radio. There was no television and I think most of the country tuned in to listen to him. We all believed he told us the truth.
During the war, Westgate had troops stationed and I remember the Tank Regiment being posted here. We used to have a dance once a week and we called it the 鈥渟ixpenny hop鈥� that included a cup of tea and a bun. We had some great dance bands and their signature was 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a Plenty!鈥�
The dances were held at St Saviour鈥檚 Hall. Mr & Mrs Cornford used to attend and would give a little morale boosting speech. It was a time when we all enjoyed ourselves.
Many a time we went to the Carlton Cinema, but alas the air raid sirens sounded on some occasions and we had to evacuate the cinema. We were given tickets to come back the next day. One of the films I watched was called 鈥淜ings Row鈥�. I did on day manage to see it through to the end!
When the war ended in 1945 I was still at Littlebourne in the land Army. I remember we all celebrated the event with glasses of gin. After a short time I returned to my home in Richborough Road and got a job at Billy Beard鈥檚 the Dry Cleaners, doing needlework repairs and alterations.

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