大象传媒

During the War I volunteered to join the A.T.S. I was working in an office at the time, and coming from a small village in Derbyshire, I was not very experienced in travel. I certainly didn鈥檛 realize just what was in store for me.
My brother was in the Navy. He'd joined as a boy sailor and had visited many countries in peace time. My father had been a corporal in the first war. He and my mother met when he was billeted near to where she worked. Later, my mother trained to become a midwife.
I went for my interview in Nottingham and passed my test. I was to be sent to Guildford in Surrey for six weeks training and I must admit at that time, it seemed such a long way from home. I travelled to London and then on to Guildford, where I was met by a huge truck. Inside were lots of girls all going to Queens Camp. During training, we were marched up and down for hours and were subjected to endless injections and inspections. Finally we were all posted to our different stations, depending on what jobs we were to do. I was accepted into the Medical Corps and was then posted to London, where I stayed for the next three and a half years.
When I arrived, I decided to have a look around, but after about half an hour in the cold and dark I found myself back where I had started; I gave up. I decided that my wanderings were best left until daylight. Although London was a dangerous place to be during that time, it was also an exciting place to be. During the blackouts, we were only allowed to carry a small torch, plus of course, our gas mask and tin hat etc. I was posted to various places, around London. Woolwich, Arsenal. Bayswater and Sloan Square to mention a few. I think my longest stay was in Queens Gardens, Bayswater, where I was billeted in a row of six houses. The office was situated in No. 62. These houses were cold and wet and the water used to run down the walls near my bed, which, as you can imagine, was always cold and damp. I suffered with terrible colds and earache. As the weather improved.... so did my health.

Going home on leave was heaven. Being able to go to the local dances in civvies made me wonder why I had joined up at all. Everything seemed so nice and quiet at home, although Sheffield, which wasn鈥檛 too far away, had been badly bombed. I always returned from leave on the last train, it was always packed with troops: Soldiers, sailors, airmen, W.A.A.F. and A.T.S. Everyone stood up as there was no room to sit down. We were packed in shoulder to shoulder. When the train stopped to let anyone disembark, we would all have to get off and then climb back on again. We slept when we could as we made our way back to St. Pancras Station.
I made lots of friends, one of the girls who came from Barbados, used to come home with me on leave. I still hear from her at Christmas. She is living in Australia now. My parents made her very welcome as she was a long way from home. She hated the terrible weather and suffered from chilblains and colds.
Just as we were thinking the war was over, along came the V2 rocket. Poor London. Poor Old Lady. More bombing. The Blitz, and the rocket bombs; even the church had no roof. When we went on church parade it was always cold, sometimes wet. Morale became low again, but we kept on going. However, as the launching pads of the flying bombs were gradually being taken over by the advancing troops on the continent, so things began to get better here.
At last came 1945 and victory. London was a great place to be on V.E. Night. We were told we could stay out late, so the celebrations went on until next day. The crowds kept going to Buckingham Palace and finally the King and Queen came onto the balcony. The war was finally over.
I was demobbed in 1947 at Aldershot. We now hold reunions every three years. Of course, we are a lot older and wiser now and sadly dwindling in numbers.

Dorothy Elizabeth Beastall.
Ex/Cpl. A.T.S. Lower Pilsley Derbyshire.

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