³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

This story has been submitted to the People’s War website by Anne Wareing of the Lancashire ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Guard on behalf of Freda Willis and has been added to the site with her permission…

I was 14 when war broke out and after leaving school I had various jobs. My father ran a hotel in Fleetwood. Unfortunately my mother wasn’t in very good health and when I was called up at 17 I was unable to go. So I joined the Women’s Junior Air Corp eventually getting made up to sergeant.

I went to work at Vickers Aircraft factory at Squires Gate Blackpool, there I had to work 8am to 8pm,on two weeks days and two weeks nights, finishing two hours early on one night a week. They were very long hard working days and I especially hated the night shifts. Although one night I remember the inspector taking us girls around the factory to see the finished planes that we had helped to build, we enjoyed that.

After twelve months there I was made redundant and went to work in a grocers shop in Blackpool. I stayed there for some time, but when officers and their families started to be billeted at my father’s hotel I went back there to help out

Rationing wasn’t too bad for us as a family as there were six of us, so we shared the coupons, also whilst working at the grocers, although I never got anything I wasn’t entitled too, I always got first chance of things when they came in without having to queue.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.