Working in Warwick

I was 24 when the Second World War broke out and was living in Avery Gardens, Ilford. At that time I was working as a typist with PASDA in Cheapside, London. I remember listening to the radio broadcast saying that we were at war with Germany when I was at home with my family as it was a weekend. At first there were no real changes but I left my job as PASDA to go down to a village near Taunton to stay with an elderly aunt as she wished to avoid housing evacuees but only stayed there a couple of weeks as she was extremely demanding.

I then found a job as a typist with the British Iron and Steel Corporation (BISC) in Tothill Street in the autumn of 1939. I used to travel to work from Ilford by train but, with the increased bombing, trains were often held up or we had to stay in the Underground and would sometimes not get to work until 2 pm. BISC then laid on coaches for us to get to work . I think I was the only one to get on in Ilford but the coach then stopped at various places to collect other people en route. We often saw the terrible devastation of the East End on our way to work where all the buildings lay in ruins. I only remember one "close shave" when a bomb came down in the area of the Embankment just before we got there. Some of the people on the bus were first aiders and rushed to see whether they could help. I was not scared - probably thought that nothing would ever happen to me.

In 1940 one of my sisters was called up and served with the RAF as a telephonist, initially at RAF Halton. Another joined the ATS but had to leave after a short while on medical grounds but continued working on the land at Shepperton. I still lived in Ilford with my parents and every night we went down in the Anderson shelter belonging to our next-door neighbours, the Dennitts, whose daughter had been evacuated so it was just the five of us: Mr and Mrs Dennitt, my parents and myself. We didn't sleep but had to sit up all the time and quite enjoyed ourselves. We then went to bed at 6 am, slept for an hour and then got up to go to work.

After the Tothill Street office of BISC was bombed, the company was sent to Ashorne in Warwickshire and most employees were evacuated with it although some still stayed in London. We lived in "huts" on the estate - but I don't know why we called them "huts" as they weren't as basic as that - and worked in the actual house. I then moved to stay at The Clarendon Hotel in Leamington Spa. More staff were taken on and came from Scotland, Wales and Sheffield for example and BISC needed larger office accommodation so we moved to Windsor Castle. My office was the "Cedar Room". I later lived at the Lord Leicester Hotel in Warwick when BISC took it over as accommodation for their employees.

At Ashorne BISC organised dances for just the employees as not many wives had moved up from London but just visited at the weekend. Throughout the war I was always well fed as we had a canteen or ate at the hotels where we lived. At Ashorne, however, we used to walk up to the farm nearby to have bacon and eggs which weren't available on ration. We also used to go dancing at Leamington where some Czech officers were based who seemed very attractive. I remember going to their base for a cocktail party. When I lived at Leamington there wasn't so much social life but I remember going to see Victor Sylvester with a boyfriend. When we were at Warwick we girls often used to go to dances at the Air Force bases. The Canadians were stationed there and picked us up in their trucks. We were also fed pigeon pie at the hotel in Warwick but I didn't like that as the meat was very dark. I once went to a dance at a base when the Americans had arrived and they had steak! They had everything during the war.

During that time we were allowed one "long weekend" a month so I used to come home. I can't remember there being any real problems with the trains on these occasions. My parents stayed in Ilford throughout the war years and, whilst I was away, had a Morrison shelter installed indoors which Mother and I used when I was at home but Father never used it. He just sat up reading. One friend moved down to Worcester Park with her parents to escape the bombing but had the unfortunate experience of having the house next door to them bombed. We finally left the Midlands in 1945, having spent 5 years there.

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