大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Lisa Watson of Leicestershire Library Services on behalf of Eileen Rake and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

The war years spent as a schoolgirl and teenager in Loughborough, Leicestershire gave me an outlook and future in life that I am sure a peacetime life never would have done and were even responsible for my eventual marriage.

Loughborough became populated (if only short stay) by people from all over England and quite a number of foreign countries too. Uniforms to be seen were RAF, Army (English and American), wounded personnel in blue suits, white shirts and red ties and German and Italian prisoners of war in dark uniforms with huge patches of light material on their backs. There was a camp for displaced persons at Burton on the Wolds and I believe the majority were Polish. Not to be forgotten were the uniforms of the local civilian services Home Guard, ARP wardens, WVS etc.

I was at Limehurst Senior Girls' School when war was declared and it had an immediate effect in so may ways. Gas masks were carried everywhere and air raid drills carried out by going into the shelters built on the playing fields. "Black out" restrictions were introduced forbidding any lights showing at nights which of course meant no Annual Fair from 1938 - 1945. A visit to the cinema could be interrupted by a notice coming on to the screen telling the patrons of the sirens being sounded (warning of an air raid) followed by a notice of the All Clear to the brave ones who had chosen to stay put.

At school we discussed the war events as they happened and kept scrapbooks, knitted balaclava helmets, socks and gloves for the forces and saved money for the war effort. My entry for a poster competition promoting savings stated "You can't buy cheese but 'You can buy these' showing National Savings Stamps and Certificates.

Rationing brought to an end being able to buy sweets and chocolate at will and even fruit was in short supply. Varied dishes for main meals were hard to produce with small allowances and shortages so in cookery lessons we were taught to use substitutes - even nettles for cabbage! Opening hours for restaurants and fish and chip shops were cut so you could never rely on getting your 'pennorth of chips'.

On leaving school I started work as an office junior in the accounts department of the Brush Electrical Engineering Co. and loved it from the start. Among staff I worked with were several refugees including an Austrian Jew, a Hungarian opera singer and a Channel Islander from Jersey whose accents and tales they told me were fascinating. I made friends with an evacuee from Stepney, London who worked with me and she had suffered some terrifying experiences in air raids especially from the 'doodle bugs'.

On a lighter note, I was taken to the Brush Ball and had a wonderful time and our office gave a party for some wounded soldiers which stays in my memory to this day. 'Workers Playtime' was a radio programme often recorded at the Brush canteen and I would try and get in to see any celebrities in it. I remember Margaret Lockwood very well.

Working hours were greatly extended during the war and we regularly had to work at weekends to keep everything flowing.

Outside of work I joined the YWCA and chiefly spent my social life there. Dances were held frequently and it was greatly used by the forces as a canteen and overnight place to stay when travelling, being just over the road from the Central Station. Many of the student hostels in Loughborough were occupied by wounded airmen and they, and their physical training instructors visited the YWCA. Among the instructors were Raich Carter (England football captain), Peter Doherty (Irish football captain) and several other top football players who played for Derby. We enjoyed many games of table tennis with them and the airmen, took part in spelling bees and other events.

The YWCA formed a company of the Girls Training Corps which was founded for potential servicewomen. I enrolled in it with my friends and it was a very active movement. Together with either the Air Training Corps or the Army Cadets we went on route marches, cycle rides and learnt drill. We took part in various war efforts such as newspaper and book and metal collections and generally helped in the local community. A sports event was held at One Ash, Quorn, the home of Miss Angela Faire our chief officer (see photograph) and we also formed a choir which managed to get a mention in the GTC magazine (see picture) but no fame resulted!

All forms of transport were unreliable and subject to cancellation, due to fuel shortages and resulted in overcrowding. My sisters and I went to take a friend back to Nottingham one lovely summer evening and were unable to get a train back to Loughborough until well after midnight. There was no warm waiting room or refreshments to be had so we were cold and weary when we eventually got home to the great relief of our parents.

Family life altered when members went into the forces or were sent into war work. One of my sisters was sent to work in a munitions factory at Queniborough and witnessed explosions which affected her a great deal. We heard of the devastation happening in Coventry from a neighbour working there and at the height of the Blitz there, the red sky could be seen from local high points.

Dancing was a very popular pastime and Loughborough certainly had its share of venues, including the Town Hall, the Palais de Dance, the Fire Station, the YW and YMCAs, the College and the Grove Hostel on Ashby Road, which was legendary for the top American Air Force bands that played there. The Town Hall was the favourite one, for it was where the American Paratroopers danced and to watch them jive and jitterbug was pure entertainment. I was lucky enough to have an older friend who learnt from them and taught me.

We went to the College dances and several times I danced with Jim, A REME soldier from Wells in Somerset. Our paths crossed again at the College stadium pavilion at lunchtimes as he was on a course there and I was a day release student at the School of Commerce, and so began our courtship.

VE Day came and we danced that evening in the Market Place celebrating the end of a war that had changed our lives. It had deprived us of so much yet gave us countless memories to treasure and above all, freedom to live in peace again.

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