Memories of World War II

Memories of World War II

I read with great interest the stories of the War Years of some of the Reed Pensioners and I would like to tell a little of mine.

I started work in April 1943, aged 14, with a Company then called Practical Press Ltd., at 2, Dorset Buildings, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, E.C.4.

They were publishers of many magazines including the Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Hotel Review, Defence, Modern Meat Marketing, Agricultural Machinery Journal, Theatre World to name but a few.

I still have the letter engaging me as a junior clerk at £1.5s per week, signed by Robert Rockcliff the Managing Director of the firm.

So many things happened to me during those last few years of the war and one of the first things I had to learn was that all of the staff had to take part in watching out for each other, no matter what our age. Each one of us had to keep a look out on the roof on one day a week to see when the red flag appeared on the top of Unilever House, which meant that an air raid was imminent. When seen you had the press a bell which sounded in the office down below to warn everyone to take shelter. From the roof you then had to run down two or three flights of old wooden stairs to the basement to what you hoped was safety, in the office of the Royal Surgical Aid Society, where we all sat surrounded by artificial limbs etc. Not the most comforting of places to spend time waiting for the all clear to sound.

The Editor of the Caterer was Reginald O. Baker and soon after I joined the firm he went off to the war with the Royal Navy and came back to continue as Editor in 1946. We fell in love and married in 1950.. We had three children the first was born during the time of Hotelympia in 1952. Reg died, aged 82 in 1991 and I remarried, at the age of 74 in.2003

The Caterer and Hotelkeeper is still going well, I remember Reg writing masses of words about the history of the magazine years ago, also lots of articles about the first notable chefs in the history of cooking.

I often wonder if there are any folk around who remember those years. I know that Norman Pumfrey is still around from those old days. Are there any other Reed Pensioners from that time, I would love to know, my name when I joined the firm of Practical Press was Joyce Styles and I worked there from April 1943 until October 1951.

Joyce Pearce
29 December 2005

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