大象传媒

Say "Salisbury" and an image of the Cathedral with its soaring spire, and serene Cathedral Close come to mind. Before WW2 this Close was home to the Cathedral clergy, respected citizens, theological students, and a band of women training to be teachers of the Diocesan Training College. But 66 years ago this quiet Close experienced an invasion by the military. The Theological College was requisitioned by the Army to house....WOMEN SOLDIERS, THE ATS. This "other band of women" in the Close were members of the 6th Glos. Clerical Coy, recruited to work in the offices of H.Q. Southern Command based in Salisbury and Wilton. Other houses in the Close had been requisitioned too, viz the Wardrobe, Number 11 and a house near the College, which was the Warrant Officers' and Sergeants'Mess.

Members of the A.T.S., which was formed in 1938, volunteered to serve in the Army, replacing men in jobs such as drivers and clerks.

I arrived at the Theological College in 1940, together with twelve other girls. The college was overflowing with girls, so much so that our group had to sleep in the Lecture Hall with five beds on each side of the room and three on the stage. I was centre stage, with a blackboard and an easel behind me - signs of things to come perhaps?

We women threw ourselves into army routine, marching to work every morning, practising drill up and down the road to the Bishop's Palace, barracking our beds every morning and polishing buttons and shoes in a way that we would not have done in 'civvy street'. We were welcomed to Thursday evening services in the chapel in the Bishop's Palace, but only a handful of us took up the offer.

Our three weeks training at Aldermaston had concentrated on military routine together with personal assessment. I was fortunate to have been posted to a clerical company and to Southern Command Pay Office, as I had been a cashier before I joined up. Some girls found themselves posted to units far from civilisation, in trades that they knew nothing about.

One thing that we had in common with the Training College girls was the routine of getting back into the Close after an evening out in Salisbury. A.T.S girls had to be in by 10pm, except for two late passes of 10.30 and one of 11pm per week. Oh - that mad chase up the High Street, frantic bell ringing for the Close Constable to let us in and then another sprint to the college. Even if you were only a minute late, you were still 'on a charge' the next morning and were given punishmnent fatigues, usually peeling vegetables. I had never peeled a parsnip or a swede until I joined up!

Sometimes we were invited to dances at different Army camps such as Heytesbury or Bulford. We were heavily chaperoned and transported both ways by army lorries. I wonder whether the same invitations were issued to the Training College girls?

I worked in the Pay Office in Barnards Cross, which had been a Training College hostel. All bills incurred in Southern Command went through me for approval before payment could be made. As Southern Command was now the front line, following the retreat from Dunkirk, we were frantically busy. Our returning soldiers had to be quartered in tents or billets reorganised into regiments and re-equipped. We had left so much behind in France. I learnt a lot about Armly procedure and forms! Having worked in 'civvy street' I found Army ways cumbersome, but I was promoted to Sergeant and (more importantly) I gained entry to the Sergeants' Mess!

Despite a high profile visit by the King and Queen in April 1941, when over 400 girls paraded at Wilton House, the ATS received less good press than the WRNS and WAAFS. Some unkind people referred to us as OGS (Officers Ground Sheets!) My recollections are that our officers cared for our welfare and that few girls had to leave for the euphemistic reason 'on medical grounds'.

I take comfort from the fact that HM The Queen and Winston Churchill's daughter, Mary, both chose to join the ATS. The great thing about being in the Services was serving with such a wide spectrum of society. Yes, there were proficiency tests and previous education counted towards promotion, but we started as equals. As an only child, I loved the comradeship and thought that sleeping in a Nissen hut (at the training depot) with twenty-one other girls was bliss! At one time in Salisbury we had two ex debutantes, a girl from Tiger Bay, Cardiff, a milkmaid and four others all in one room. Did the Training College offer such variety? - probably not. The war shook us all up and then scattered us into different situations.

When, at the age of forty-three, I was accepted for Teacher Training, Miss Ashley, the College Principal, told me that senior NCO's often made the best teachers. She had herself been involved in training ex service personnel after the war and she said that such people could both give and take orders. So my Sergeant's stripes played a part in my entry to Teacher Trainning in 1963. There I was - back in the Close - but that is another story.

Betty Mitchell (nee Ellis)
W/42300 Ex.Sgt ATS.

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