大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Claire White of 大象传媒 Scotland on behalf of Susan Carey and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was about 18 when I went to work in the Rolls-Royce munitions factory in Hillington in Glasgow. I worked on the milling machine, making parts for aircraft. There were a lot of men came from England to teach the many women who were employed in this work. I worked there for about 3 years and was transferred to another of their factories in Alexandra Parade; they had taken over the former Senior Service cigarette factory. The shifts at Hillington were long, around twelve hours per day, typically from six in the morning until six at night or six at night until six in the morning.

The work was reasonably hard and tiring but the factory did quite a lot for us; they would put on entertainment during the night and there was dancing sometimes. This helped to break up the time for us. Another thing was the travelling; it took nearly an hour for me to get there from Ruchill, so this added on to the already long hours of work.

Despite all this, the social life was quite good. Because of the large number of servicemen passing through Glasgow, there were plenty of dance places. My favourite was the Locarno in Sauchiehall Street; I went there quite often, mostly at the weekends. When I had free time in the afternoons, I would go with my friends to the places where there was afternoon dancing, like Green's Playhouse.

I had a lot of friends around that time and I still keep in touch with some. Friendships seemed to blossom in the tough conditions and helped to make them last. With people from all over the world in Glasgow, I can never remember being afraid to walk alone going to or from work in the early morning or late at night; I always felt that people would be much more likely to help rather than harm me.

I met my husband through mutual friends, but many of my work friends and colleagues met American GIs. A close friend that I went to school with, Helen, met a GI called John and eventually married him and went to live in America. I spoke to her on the phone last night and she told me she's coming to Glasgow in a few weeks, so that'll be a chance for us to catch up on old times.

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