Description
Object description
British civilian worked for Hawker Siddeley Aircraft and as volunteer for British Red Cross in Coventry, GB, 1939-1940
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of family background. Recollections of life in Porth and Coventry, GB, 1921-1939: economic situation in area; financial situation in family; living conditions; education; memories of education; discipline at school; attitude towards not attending grammar school; father's charity work; church and religion; leisure activities; day trips with Sunday school; leaving school at fourteen; part-time employment; pay.
REEL 2 Continues: working hours; employment in local colliery; attitude towards work in coal mine; duties in coal mine; working conditions; relationship with uncle; story of how father walked from Wales to Birmingham to find work; move to Coventry to join father; father's involvement with Liberal Party; move to village near Coventry with family; employment at Armstrong Siddeley motor cars; duties assembling cars; taking up student apprenticeship with Armstrong Siddeley; hours worked; attitude towards onset of war.
REEL 3 Continues: manufacture of aero engines at Armstrong Siddeley factory; gearing up for war production at factory; nature of manufacturing work; rules and regulations; working conditions; joining British Red Cross; training for British Red Cross duties; pre-war activities with British Red Cross; hierarchy in British Red Cross. Recollections of period as worker for Hawker Siddeley Aircraft and volunteer for British Red Cross in Coventry, GB, 1939-1940: reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; receiving declaration as being unfit for military service; duties testing aero engines at Hawker Siddeley Aircraft.
REEL 4 Continues: types of engine manufactured at factory; impact of outbreak of Second World War on factory; working hours; pay; visit to factory by Winston Churchill; firewatching duties; first aid duties in factory surgery; question of propaganda; questions of accidents at factory; morale in factory; entertainment including listening to 'workers playtime'; rations; black market; blackout regulations; reasons for German Air Force bombing of Coventry.
REEL 5 Continues: German Air Force raids on Coventry before 11/1940; provision of air raid shelters and gas masks; anti-aircraft defences; public attitude towards Dunkirk Evacuation. Account of German Air Force raid on Coventry, GB, 14/11/1940-15/11/1940: beginning of bombing, incendiaries and heavy bombs; question of whether indiscriminate bombing; damage sustained by city centre; making way to factory; British Red Cross duties; lack of water to put out fires; attempts to boost morale of those in factory; factory workers concern for families; impact of bombing on communications; allocation of duties to British Red Cross workers; witnessing devastation of city centre; duties attending to the injured and rescuing people trapped in buildings.
REEL 6 Continues: difficulties of work; care needed when freeing people trapped by debris; exhausting nature of work; number of people his team rescued; continuation of rescue work for several days after the raid; story of how Mayor of Coventry picked him to meet King George VI on his visit to Coventry after bombing raid; public morale; comparison of devastation of Coventry to other areas. Aspects of civilian life and employment in Nottingham and Coventry, GB, 1941-1945: move to Rolls-Royce Ltd factory in Nottingham; duties; return to Coventry; employment with General Electric Company (GEC); award of Member of the British Empire (MBE), 1941; reasons for passing award to British Red Cross Society; later award of Queens Coronation Medal, 1953.
