大象传媒

My mother, Robertina Pearson (known as Ena) travelled to Coventry during the war years to work in a munitions factory there for 2 years. Her name then was Atkinson and these are her experiences:

In 1943, my mother Ena Atkinson, was working as a sewing machinist at Jackson the Tailors in Gateshead. She had been working there from the age of 15 to 19 years when she received her call up papers to sign and state where she would like to work. She asked to be in the ATS and also had to go to her doctor for a medical.

When she heard back from the government department, they stated she was not needed for the ATS but was being sent to a munitions factory in Coventry instead, to depart on the 8th March 1943. She arrived in Coventry and was sent on to a small place called Coundon where a hostel had been built to house her and others. There were already men and women there before her.

My mother was put in a dormitory with about 14 other women. There was a separate dormitory for the men. My mother's dorm had a Warden who was in charge of them called Miss Coombs, a lady of about 40 to 50 years old to see to them and to make sure they stuck to the rules and regulations of the place.

One person in each dormitory had a key to the dorm in the event that they all went out for the evening, and when they did go out all had to be back by 11pm. In the hostel there was also a canteen for their breakfast and evening meal, and a dance hall with a stage for the band where weekly dances were held for their entertainment. There was also a small shop for confectionary, and other small items.

The factory where my mother worked had been a car factory, Morris Engines, but had been converted into a factory for the making of tanks for the war effort. My mother and other women were bussed in to work every morning. She was shown by a fitter (Bill Unitt)how to operate a big machine making small parts for the tanks. She worked beside 4 other women who were from Coventry. Two of them were twin sisters and the other 2 were their friends. They all got on very well and became good mates.

The twins were called Gladys and Kath Ball (they had a brother Jack who was in the Navy) and the other two girls were Dorothy and Mary. There were also one or two others girls from Gateshead in the factory who had got there before my mother but they were in a different dormitory to her. My mother worked shifts of either 10pm till 6am or 7.30am till 5.30pm on a weekly basis.

Coventry had been well bombed before my mum got there but they still got a few air raids at night when they had to all go into the air raid shelters when the sirens went off, and stay there until the all-clear, usually about 1/2 to 1 hour later and they would get back to their jobs until clocking off time. It was nights mostly when the air raids happened as the German planes were targeting the factories.

The twins were good friends of my mum. They invited her to their parent's house and also her fitter invited her to his home to meet his wife and 2 children.

On Friday and Saturday nights, there would be a dance in the hall at their hostel, with a band on stage and my mother made friends with the couple who organised the band, George ? and Irene Nicholls, who were engaged. They had heard her sing at someone's party and as my mother had quite a good singing voice, (she was often told she sang like Deanna Durbin) they invited her to sing with the band on stage. She once went on holiday with them too, to Tenby in Wales, to stay at Irene's mum and dad's house for a week. She thoroughly enjoyed it and has a photo of herself with George and Irene in Wales.

My mother also met other girls her age from the North East and other parts of England and Scotland and also some nice fellers.

Then in May 1945 when the war was over, their time in the factory was over too. They were all told to make arrangements to go back to their various homes. They had a last farewell dance party in the hostel to say goodbye to each other. My mother stayed on for another two weeks, to say farewell to all the friends she had met. She had enjoyed the friendships so much and felt she really didn't want to go home just yet, but my grandmother wrote and told her she was needed at home, so regretfully she did have to. She travelled back to Newcastle on the train then on to her home town of Gateshead. She went back to her original job at Jackson the Tailors, and in 1946 met my father on his demob from the army, and they were married in 1947.

Carol Pearson

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