Description
Object description
British civilian worked as telephone operator at Ministry of Aircraft Production in London, GB, 1939-1941; worked for Royal Army Ordnance Corps Regimental Depot, Hilsea Barracks, Portsmouth, GB, 1941-1942; worked as bus conductress with London Passenger Transport Board in London, GB, 1942-1943; civilian in London and Oxford, GB, 1943-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in London, GB, 1918-1939: family; education; employment; joining London Telecommunications Region, General Post Office; training in Clerkenwell; move to Battersea Telephone Exchange; pay and working hours; shift work; rules and regulations; telephone exchange duties; opinion of training received; bogus calls; relations with supervisors; telephone exchanges worked in; rules regarding marriage and leaving telephone exchange; brief period of married life in Portsmouth; return to London to work for Arc Manufacturing Ltd, 1939; decision to return to telephone exchange work. Aspects of period as telephone operator with Ministry of Aircraft Production in London, GB, 1939-1941: outbreak of Second World War, 9/1939; moving to switchboard; accommodation; use of air raid shelters.
REEL 2 Continues: air raids; gas training; continuing to work switchboard during air raids; memories of air raids; story of relative's discovery of land mine whilst fire watching; death of friend in air raid; black market. Aspects of period as worker in Royal Army Ordnance Corps Regimental Depot, Hilsea Barracks, Portsmouth, GB, 1941-1942: background to obtaining employment; employment of women at depot; German bombing of Portsmouth; use of air raid shelters; civilian morale.
REEL 3 Continues: transport difficulties; use of gas bags on vehicles; recreational activities. Aspects of period as telephone operator with Ministry of Aircraft Production in London, GB, 1939-1941: use of air raid shelters; later experience of German V2 Rocket and V1 Flying Bomb attacks; German Air Force raids on London; shelter life; walking in bomb damaged streets; levels of fitness; conditions in air raid shelters; use of shelter at Ministry of Aircraft Production; story of bomb crater in Vauxhall Bridge Road; question of fear; opinion of work of Emergency Services; working through air raids; description of telephone system; working hours.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as worker in Royal Army Ordnance Corps Regimental Depot, Hilsea Barracks, Portsmouth, GB, 1941-1942: attitude towards leaving London; work in depot; increasing independence of women during Second World War; decision to return to London, 1942. Recollections of period as bus conductress with London Passenger Transport Board in London, GB, 1942-1943: training; work as bus conductress; preparations of buses for blackout; problems for buses during blackout; story of dealing with passengers on overcrowded bus; working during air raids; pay; working hours; facilities at bus depots; food rations; queuing for food; clothing rations.
REEL 5 Continues: changing wartime fashions; uniform worn; attitude towards wearing trousers; receiving news that husband was missing presumed dead. Aspects of period as civilian in London and Oxford, GB, 1943-1945: remarriage and pregnancy; evacuation to Oxford for birth of baby; extra rations during pregnancy; description of utility pram; extra clothing coupons; return to London; question of evacuation to Oxford and leaving London; German V1 Flying Bomb attacks; taking young child into air raid shelter; question of pressure to leave London and evacuation of small children; victory celebrations, 1945; adapting to post-war life; impact of war on women's emancipation; post-war rationing; opinion of Americans' attitude towards money.