- Contributed by听
- gmractiondesk
- People in story:听
- Joan Marsland
- Location of story:听
- Salford
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4495287
- Contributed on:听
- 20 July 2005
Joan Marsland was a GPO telephonist at Telephone House, Chapel Street in Salford. On a Sunday night in December 1941, the cathedral was bombed. Next morning, the buses could go no further than All Saints. There was lots of fire damage, lots of broken glass. The Wellington Inn somehow survived the Blitz. It subsequently moved from Corporation Street to Shambles Square, and moved again after the IRA bomb in 1996; the inn has definitely had a charmed life. When Joan got to work in 1941, she and the other telephonists were asked to feed the firemen who had been working all night. She worked from 9am till 7pm. There was no gas and no water; there was milk enough for tea, and they had two cream crackers. Sirens sounded as the shift finished, so Joan couldn't leave. She and the others had to go down to the basement. She didn't like it much down there; the basement was below the level of the River Irwell, and it let in water. One of the telephonists had sherry, but Joan didn't get any. There was a small exchange in the basement. The building survived the Blitz. Joan had to walk home three and a half miles to Withington; she hadn't been able to contact her mother in the meantime. She was 21 in 1941. She used to go to a friend's house for Sunday afternoon tea; she stayed there when the air raid started, and she went on from there to work on the morning after the cathedral was bombed. The IRA bomb brought back a lot of memories.
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