Women's Experiences
Sample Records
Photos of Myrtle in ATS
“Myrtle Lawler nee Skinner – Gunner Skinner W/144111
- Myrtle was called up to the ATS in February 1942 when she was 21. She was the only daughter at home with her recently widowed mother. If the war hadn’t happened her life would have been very different
- Myrtle became a Radar operator studying Radar screens and telling the guns which direction to fire
- Myrtle was stationed all over the country – whenever we went away on holiday there was always the call of “I was stationed here” wherever we went. In the first few months of training she’d been to Lancashire, Wiltshire, Wales and Gourock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
- It’s strange to say but she had a fantastic war! She traveled, met fascinating people from all over the country, was proposed to by 5 different men and loved it. She said it was like her university years. It gave her opportunities and experiences she would never have had if she’d stayed at home.
- When stationed at Felixstowe Myrtle was walking along a beach when some German planes flew over and fired gun shots at them!
- Myrtle said at one time she worked in the same office as Frank Muir”
Shared by Frances King online via the Their Finest Hour project website.
Lilian and her mam Milly at the start of WW2.
As the men were called up women replaced some of them in the shipyards she recalls: "I mean the women they were like fellas. My Dad always tells the tale that the women were employed in the docks because the men were at war and they used to paint the side of the ships there was one who used to sit there and she was always chatting, chatting, and chatting. They used to shout Lily! dip your brush! So she was known after the war as 'Lily Dip Your Brush'."
Shared by Lilian Jermain Milne at Ocean Road Community Centre, Tyne and Wear on 18 November 2023. The event was organised by South Shields Local History Group.
The contributor brought a Women's Land Army armband. This would have been worn every day with her grandmother's worker's dungarees and shirt as she worked on the farm. Some of her jobs on the farm would have been driving the tractor, lifting bales of hay, and looking after animals.
Shared by Esther Lily Dobson at RGS Worcester Perrins Hall, Worcestershire on 16 June 2023.
Scrapbook with WREN memories
Norah was born on 13 August 1923 in Hyde, Cheshire. Her father was injured in WWI. They were quite poor. Norah paid to go to night school to learn shorthand typing. She documented the war with her camera, taking fantastic photographs of the life of a WREN through her own eyes. Her war service was the highlight of her life. She loved the social life of the WRENs, especially the dancing, balls, and time with friends.
Shared by Susan Slater at Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, Hampshire on 27 October 2023.
Photo of Doris Lillian Annetts from 1942.
Rank: Leading Aircraft Woman
Number: 2025068
Role: Stores Worker
Service: RAF
Served: 31/03/1942 to 24/05/46 (date left dispersal centre)
Demobbed: 19/07/1946
1. Enlisting
She and a friend (name unknown) decided to join up together. Being underage, they needed their fathers' permissions to join. Mum's father had been severely injured in an accident on the railways and was mentally impeded. As a result, he was easily persuaded to sign. Mum said they had to wait until her friend's father had had a lot to drink in the pub before he could be persuaded to sign!
Having obtained the requisite signatures, they posted their applications. I'm not clear at what point they realised mum was too young to join up, but it must have been quite soon after posting, because they waited by the post box until it was emptied with the intention of retrieving their applications and resubmitting after mum's birthday. When the postman came to empty the box, he refused to return them. As a consequence, her friend was enlisted and mum was told to reapply when old enough.
Mum subsequently joined but never saw her friend for the rest of the war!
Shared by John (Jim) Thompson online via the Their Finest Hour project website.
Photo of 3 females: May in centre with 2 friends.
My mother, who was 3-4 years older than her brother, told me of her experiences. First, she was evacuated with this uncle and younger sister and mother to Wales, but because the host, a man on his own, was none too pleasant, my Nan refused to stay or leave the children in his care. Then, when the bombing in London increased, my mother was later evacuated at the same time as my uncle to Wokingham. Her memories did not appear to be as pleasant as those of her brother. She told me that her host said if she wasn't in by a certain time, she would miss her tea. She was expected to do chores. The little money she received from her mother was to be split with her brother, and her share had to be used for writing paper to send letters back home and also to buy her own sanitary towels. Unfortunately, I did not get as detailed a description of her memories as those on my uncle's recording. However, she did remember the house she had been evacuated to when I took her to Wokingham. She clearly had strong memories of this time and wanted to revisit the area where she had been evacuated.
Shared by Mrs Dawn Cox online via the Their Finest Hour project website.
See the photo of women making sandbags, taken on the second day of WW2. The photograph was taken by an amateur photographer. The contributor's grandmother, Nancy Williamson, is second from the right. When Mrs. Leishman (depicted in the middle of the photograph of women making sandbags) received her son's death telegram, Eupheme knew in advance (because of her job in the post office) and was able to get Leishman's sister and minister round before the telegram was delivered.
Shared by Lesley Sutherland at University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh on 25 November 2023.
Betty, WAAF 1944, leaving for France.
Betty L. Sherwood was born in October 1922 in Devon, where her mother had gone home to her mother to have the baby. The family lived in Henley where her father was a professional squash player. After completing a secretarial course Betty worked as a shorthand typist in a solicitor's office in Reading, but moved to another office job in Henley which meant much easier travelling. Dancing in the Katherine Wheel Hotel in Henley was her favourite recreation. At the outbreak of war the family moved to Wokingham as the squash courts were closed for the duration. Betty took a job in Winnersh which she did not like very much and so voluntarily enlisted in the WAAF in September 1941. That way you stood a chance of being in a job with your qualifications. Betty trained at the WAAF Training Centre at RAF Bridgnorth and because she was 'trained' as a secretary was able to get a posting to Fighter Gp HQ near Preston. She took the bus to Blackpool Tower Ballroom to keep in her love of dancing. Betty's mother had a bout of ill health and Betty applied for a posting nearer home to help out. She was sent to RAF Bracknell, Hq Army Co-Operation Command. Army Co-Op Command was disbanded and she was very lucky to be selected to stay on and see the birth of the 2nd Tactical Air Force.
Shared by Christine Edbury and Gillian Hoy online via the Their Finest Hour project website.
