Munitions work for the Mosquito

Hello, my name is Eve and I am going to give you some recollections from World War II. My memories will be transcribed by Andrew, an Open University graduate. The main topic area we will be discussing is my work in munitions in Bexhill-on-Sea, a town on the Channel coast in Sussex. We are writing this in summer 2005, and I am 86 years of age.

The location for my work was Page’s garage in Bexhill. Mr Page was directed by the Ministry to start work on components with four lathes supplied to him. He was also directed by the Ministry to contact the Labour Exchange to engage suitable employees. When I was called up, I was given three choices: to work on the land, to work on the busses, or to work for Mr Page. I thought it might be interesting, but I hadn’t a clue what I would be doing. It turned out to be hard work, but I enjoyed it. It was so different from what a woman does normally. The bit I was worried about was that we didn’t have any training, and also that we didn’t have any protective clothing. Our footwear was damaged by the cooling oil from the machines, nicknamed ‘milk’. It rotted all our clothes. I went through three pairs of fur-lined boots, ‘cos you see, it was cold in the winter. You needed warm footwear. The roof had gone at the garage. It had originally a double thickness glass roof. The hotel nearby had been bombed and it brought down all this glass. Luckily the staff weren’t there- it happened before they arrived. There were piles of all this glass, and then they put corrugated iron on. So it was bitterly cold in the place. We were working in topcoats and scarves, and these fur lined boots, but that cooling oil rotted them. I ended up by buying the biggest size of boy’s boots. My mother said, well, you can’t keep paying out for expensive fur lined boots. Go and see what boots can be got in boyswear. Although the boots might have been rubber, that cooling oil rotted everything. I don’t know what was in that cooling oil, but you see you put the steel in, in a chuck thing, we got quite strong really. And you cut into it with another bit- we used to hate sharpening that:- we used to con the men into doing the sharpening. It had to be sharp, and this cooling oil came down onto the sharp bit, and cooled the bit you were working on. The oil used to keep it cool as you were grinding down the metal with the sharp bit, cutting the shaves. The biggest thing I worked on was the stainless steel, and it was just like in a car, as far as I can tell you, like a piston. You know, that long thing with a round top. That was the biggest thing I worked on, that was on a very long lathe. All the parts we made were for the undercarriage of the Mosquito. Although it may well have been part of a pneumatic part for the undercarriage, I never saw the whole thing assembled, I never saw it working. It would be interesting to see it, wouldn’t it? I’ve never been able to go to any of the big exhibitions…

There was a government order that came out in 1941 that all women had to register. You had to register with the Labour Exchange. I chose to work at Pages, there were three women and two men- I don’t think they knew much about it, to be honest- tried to coach us in how to use the lathes. For us women, it was either work on the land or on the buses, or at Page’s garage. I found the work on the lathes quite interesting. The other two, they ended up joining the Wrens. They did about three weeks or four weeks and then they put in to join the women’s services. But I quite liked it- yes, I enjoyed what I did. What I especially liked about the work was that it was something completely different from what women normally did. You see, previously I had been a cook. I went in as a parlour maid and ended up as a cook. But it was so different! To what we- we’re never likely to do that again, are we?

I’ve just read a book by Kate Adie, you know, the war correspondent. It’s all about what women did. She wasn’t in the Second World War, but we wouldn’t have been able to get through it without the women. Actually, when we did this at the start, we were on our own in Great Britain. I agree that people today have no idea what it was like before the war, in the 1930’s Britain was the number one country in the world. A bit like America is today, but more so. We had places all over the world. We had an empire. I don’t know what’s happened to it- don’t ask me! They’ve ruined it really, haven’t they. Mind you, not that we should be in command of other people, I think really they should run their own places. Nevertheless we were in an era where Britain was ‘in charge’ of other people- or mainly the better off people were, put it that way. I’m putting this down, because I was told- you must have a lot to say. I said first of all: “They’re not raking that up, are they?” I said I can’t believe they’re interested in an 86 year old lady. Because the younger people aren’t, are they? My son saw the TV programmes “Churchill’s War”, and he can’t believe it. He says: That went on for seven years, Mum! I said : Yes, you don’t realise what we all went through. Not only us- our men. Our men, to today’s men, were very sort of naïve. I mean, they’d only been in sheltered homes, and they were taken abroad! Never been abroad. Never heard anything about abroad. I mean, you don’t wonder that half of them are not alive now, do you?

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