Description
Object description
British civilian served as ambulance driver with Darlington Ambulance Service in Darlington, GB, 1939-1940; munitions worker with No 8 Filling Factor Royal Ordnance Factory Aycliffe, GB, 1941-1944; served as machine demonstrator with Royal Ordnance Factories in GB, 1944-1945; volunteer with Guide International Service in France, Germany and Austria, 1945-1948
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Darlington, GB, 1912-1939: family; family business; father's Hugh Wilson's military service in Boer War; death of father Captain Hugh Wilson, 1/5th Bn Durham Light Infantry at Bécourt, Somme, France during First World War, 11/9/1916; memories of father Hugh Wilson and mother Grace Wilson; financial restrictions after father Hugh Wilson's death, 11/9/1916; leisure pursuits; religion; education; opinion of boarding school; school rules and discipline; school hierarchy; question of school fees; school uniform; leisure pursuits; finishing education in Switzerland; employment in nursery school on return to GB.
REEL 2 Continues: memories of General Strike, 5/1926; physical condition of children at nursery school; memories of Austrian lodger; visit to Vienna, Austria; impact of events in Germany on Austrian society; Nazi sympathies of family she stayed with in Vienna, Austria; return to GB, 1934; attitude towards abdication of King Edward VIII; collecting money for peace; visit to World Handcraft exhibition in Berlin, Germany; impressions of Josef Goebbels; return to GB; training and duties as ambulance driver with Darlington Ambulance Service, 1939; preparations for coming war; public attitude to war; involvement with Girl Guide Association.
REEL 3 Continues: running Brownie pack with Girl Guide Association; various positions held within Girk Guide Movement. Aspects of period as ambulance driver with Darlington Ambulance Service in Darlington, GB, 1939-1941: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; duties driving ambulance; preparations for heavy casualties; lack of German Air Force attacks on Darlington; memories of Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940. Aspects of period as munitions worker with No 8 Filling Factor Royal Ordnance Factory Aycliffe, GB, 1941-1944; relations with colleagues; training at Gort Training Centre, Wallsend; training as instructor; pay; length of working day.
REEL 4 Continues: description of colleagues; work on lathe; work clothing worn. Aspects of period as machine demonstrator with Royal Ordnance Factories in GB, 1944-1945: move to Croydon to work as machine demonstrator; duties as machine demonstrator in Royal Ordnance Factories; opinion of trainees; memories of German V1 Flying Bomb and V2 Rocket attacks; relations with male colleagues; leave; public morale in London area; memories of French-Canadian and American soldiers; accommodation and rations.
REEL 5 Continues: contacting Girl Guide Association about relief work; work as tool maker in Darlington, 1945; leaving factory work; prior recollection of air raid by single German Air Force aircraft on Darlington. Recollections of as volunteer with Guide International Service in France, Germany and Austria, 1945-1948: attending relief work training course in London, GB, 1945; joining Guide International Service; training received; posting to France, 12/1945; driving vehicles to France; arrival in Paris, France; attitude of French people towards them as relief workers; move to Alsace-Lorraine, France; experience of French people under German occupation; driving duties; war devastation in Alsace-Lorraine.
REEL 6 Continues: preparations for move to Germany; appointment as transport officer in hospital; transporting Displaced Persons from refugee camps to and from hospital; difficulties of driving in war devastated area; German civilians working in hospital; relations with German civilians; living conditions for refugees; birth of baby to refugee woman; story of transporting sick refugee to hospital; work of relief teams in area; description of hospital; accommodation; rations; flooding in area.
REEL 7 Continues: lack of contact with German civilians; morale in Displaced Person Camp; various nationalities present in Displaced Person camp; closure of hospital; move to No 5 Headquarters, Council of Relief Societies Abroad in Germany; social life; appointment as personal assistant to Lady Walker; attending wedding of British NCO and Polish woman; work at headquarters; visiting Möhne Dam, Germany; visiting site of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; story of witnessing anti-British speech at Belsen Memorial; driving without armed escort in Germany; leave; move to Austria to organise guiding in refugee camps; attitude of Austrian people towards end of German occupation.
REEL 8 Continues: organising girl guides in refugee camps; conditions in camps; various relief organisations present in Austria; training Girl Guide Association leaders in Germany; working in American Zone of Occupation, Germany; conditions; opinion of Americans; conditions; return to GB; move to United States of America for job with Girl Guide Association.