Description
Object description
British civilian secretary with Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd at Hythe and Woolston, GB, 1930-1937; air raid warden with Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence Service Control Centre, Totton, GB, 1938-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Leeds and Southampton, GB, 1913-1930: family; memories of First World War; father's service with Royal Army Medical Corps and death from stroke, 1923; education; employment in clothing factory in Leeds, 1926; secretarial training; move to Southampton; employment in Southampton. Recollections of period as secretary at Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd at Hythe and Woolston, GB, 1930-1937 : background to applying for employment and subsequent interview; secretarial work; last days of flying boats at Hythe Works; move to Woolston after closure of Hythe; memories of R J Mitchell.
REEL 2 Continues: test pilot Joseph 'Mutt' Summers reporting back to R J Mitchell on first flight of Supermarine Spitfire, 1936; work of R J Mitchell; opinion of R J Mitchell; attitude towards leaving Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd, 1937; opinion of test pilots; opinion of Supermarine Spitfire; anticipation of coming war; preparations for war at Woolston Works. Recollections of period as air raid warden with Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence Service Control Centre in Totton, GB, 1938-1945: joining Air Raid Precautions, 1938; summoning to headquarters on outbreak of Second World War, 3/9/1939; pattern of service with Air Raid Precautions, 1939-1945; lack of war damage to Totton; situation during Phoney War, 1939-1940; system of warnings for air raids; air raid shelters.
REEL 3 Continues: character of public air raid shelters; difficulties for mothers during war; rations; rationing of clothing and furniture; husband's Reserved Occupation; bombing of Southampton and surrounding area; incidents highlighting need for sense of humour; need for blackout; importance of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's wartime speeches; preparations for potential German invasion, 1940; aid given to troops returning from Dunkirk Evacuation, 5/1940-6/1940.
REEL 4 Continues: sight of aerial activity during Battle of Britain, 1940; sight of aircraft flying towards Normandy, France on D-Day, 6/6/1944; story of using her pet dog to help demonstrate gas masks to children; lack of criminal activity during wartime; presence of Americans and Canadians in area; attitude towards William Joyce 'Lord Haw Haw' broadcasts; visit by Royal Family to bombed Southampton; opinion of role of fire services during German bombing of Southampton; provisions for pregnant women and giving birth.
REEL 5 Continues: further details of provisions for pregnant women; German V1 Flying Bomb and V2 Rocket raids on Southampton, 1944-1945; aid offered to refugees from bombing of Southampton by people of Totton; listening to radio; opinion of Home Guard; story of husband's investigation into possible 'fifth columnist'; memories of VE Day, 8/5/1945; impact of war on her life; impact of war on situation for women; attitude towards wartime role with Air Raid Precautions and Civil Defence Service.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude towards commemoration of 50th anniversary of end of Second World War, 1995; attitude towards Japanese and Germans; incident of leaflets containing an Adolf Hitler's speech being dropped over Southern England, 1940; opinion of contribution of women to the war effort.