大象传媒

After he had gone, I was told he had picked me( most likely because I was such a chatterbox and had the most to say.) Any way, I went to Birmingham where the programme was recorded and I had a wonderful time; the hospitality was really generous and as the only girl on that programme I was made a fuss of. The whole thing was scripted, based on what we had all said earlier, which was unfortunate,as we had said some uncomplimentary things about country life and our lodgings, which didn't go down too well with the local population when the programme was broadcast. I hadn't been able to persuade them to change the script , so when they asked me to go to London to do another show, I was delighted, but aske if I could write my own script, which I did, being much more diplomatic and stressing all the things I had enjoyed in Shropshire. Again I had a splendid time and it was interesting to meet the other people in the show, some of whom were regular broadcasters on country matters and others people like me who had a particular line on the country.

Next time I was invited to do a programme in London, it happened to be when the Doodlebugs were falling. We had heard about these " pilotless planes on the news, but had thought it was a fantasy. They were all too real and it was scary when the buzz stopped and one waited for the bomb to drop, not knowing where that would be. The nearest I came to one was when some shattered glass fell near to where I was sheltering in a shop doorway, so once again I was lucky.

I had vaguely hoped that these radio experiences might lead to a career after the war, but nothing happened, so, as the war neared its end, I looked around for something worth while todo when my Timber Corps days were over. My mother cut out an advertisement from the paper, asking for applicants to go to an Emergency Teacher Training College, as there was a desperate shortage of teachers , so I applied and was accepted after an interview.The college had originally housed war workers and was a collection of Nissen huts used because of the housing shortage in Coventry where it was situated. My home was not far away, but I lived in and enjoyed having my own room with its own wash basin after some of the peimitive condiions in the country lodgings.The course was really intensive, fifty two weeks non stop, with lectures in the evenings as well as in the day time, so we packed as much work into our year as a normal ( in those days), three year course withlong vacations and probably more social life than we had. It was wonderful to get back to academic work again and to meet so many new people, all of whom had been doing some sort of war work before.I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Exhall College and made good friends. One day, in the dining hall an announcement was made that the war in Europe was over. This caused great applause and I think we must have had a day off for VE Day, as a friend and I went into the centre of Coventry to join the crowds there, but the celebrations in Coventry were muted, as the city was still in ruins and for me it wasn't so good, as Stan was still in India. Our course went on and our second School Practice came around. My best friend Jean and I had both had awful first practices in separate schools; mine was in an overcrowded school where three children had to share a desk designed for two, with their outdoor clothes on the seats beside them, as there was no cloakroom. In these conditions it was difficult to do the sort of project based teaching approved by the college and I found it frustrating to try to organise a project based on a Post Office theme . It in a class of nearly sixty children with hardly any room to move about. It was hard enough to keep some sort of order. Jean had been sent to a class of much younger children than she had been training and seemed to spend a lot of time with a mop and bucket, dealing with "accidents". we had been so dejected that we almost gave up, but this time we were both at the same lovely school, with small classes, polite, orderly children, a helpful headmistress and delicious dinners.So we were both successful and looked forward to starting our real teaching. I was lucky to secure a place at one of the scholls near Coventry which had hosted School Practice students and was sympathetic to the style of teaching the college believed in , although I must admit that once I had my own class I spent more time making sure the children could read than doing projects. So by the time the war in the Far east was over I was a qualified teacher and just waited for Stan to be sent home and at last demobbed in 1946, we could get married and start our life together. Butb that's another story.

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