Description
Object description
British wren and officer served as meteorologist with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1941-1946
Content description
REEL 1 Background in GB, 1921-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as student with Oxford University, GB, 1939-1941: student life; reasons for leaving university and volunteering for Women's Royal Naval Service; volunteering for students land scheme; farm work, pay and conditions; attitude towards war; problems caused by German family connections. Aspects of enlistment and training with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1941: enlistment; recruitment procedure; basic training at Greenwich Naval College; training for meteorological work. Recollections of period as meteorologist with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1942-1946: posting as ordinary wren to Royal Naval Air Station Worthy Down; meeting Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson.
REEL 2 Continues: uniform and kit; rules regarding hairstyles and uniform; etiquette training at Stoke Poges; officer's uniform; further meteorological training at Greenwich Naval College; drafting to Belfast, Northern Ireland; daily routine and duties in meteorological office; making an inaccurate weather forecast; making flights with pilots to gauge weather conditions; trip to Eire; description of Royal Naval Air Station in Belfast; alcohol consumption; sexual relations; rules regarding pregnancy; question of threat from Irish Republican Army.
REEL 3 Continues: hierarchy with Women's Royal Naval Service; question of rank; attending mixed sex meteorological training; arrival of American troops; attitude towards American troops; encounter with Black American troops after hitching lift during blackout; attending American dance; occasion when she was strafed by German aircraft whilst on leave in Caterham; work relating to selection of D-Day in London, 1944; experiences of bombing in Caterham whilst on leave; attitude towards death of friends and relatives; sight of man being decapitated by propeller of Fairey Swordfish.
REEL 4 Continues: memories of Jimmy and his 'Glee Club'; incident of forgetting uniform; VIP visits; sight of Boeing B17 Flying Fortress crashing; manning of meteorological office; need to take pollution into account when making forecasts; links between meteorological offices; use of observation boxes; contrast between wartime meteorological and 2002; demobilisation; return to civilian life; attitude towards women in Royal Navy, 2002; impact of experiences in Women's Royal Naval Service.