Description
Object description
British aircraftswoman served with Women's Auxiliary Air Force in GB, 1941-1945 including at Bletchley Park and in Cabinet War Rooms
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Wallasey and Liverpool, GB, 1923-1941: family background; education including move to Liverpool; community; knowledge of anti-Semitism in Germany during 1930s including details of refugees helped; civilian work with World Jewish Congress; talk about possible evacuation; preparations in Liverpool for war; opinion about possibility of involvement in war. Aspects of period as civilian in GB, 1939-1941: outbreak of war; knowledge of anti-Semitism in Germany during war; changes to lives of family members including evacuation of school to Chester; train journey to Chester; sorting out of students outside cathedral; complaint made about accommodation on first day of school; education; return to Liverpool; air raids including shelter taken; reasons for move to London; mail from and experiences of brother in France; reactions during period following Dunkirk; listening to Lord Haw Haw; details of work with World Jewish Congress including information received about treatment of Jews in Europe; contact with troops; joining of services. Aspects of period as aircraftswoman with Women's Auxiliary Air Force in GB, 1941-1945: kit issued and stolen in Gloucester; training in Morecambe and Marham; transfer to signals; training received at Cranwell including touch typing.
REEL 2 Continues: rations; teleprinter training in Leighton Buzzard; posting to Bletchley Park; reception on arrival; accommodation; vetting period including reason for it; initial duties; story of punishment [Short Reel].
REEL 3 Continues: details of work with teleprinters; talking about work; conditions in accommodation; rations; visits to NAAFI; leisure activities; contact with officers; scenes during shift changes; visits of VIPs; knowledge of activities at Bletchley Park including talking about experiences and opinion of service; security and activity at Bletchley Park; posting to Cabinet War Rooms including rank and uniform; prior knowledge of atomic bombs; description of Cabinet War Rooms and memories of Winston Churchill; discipline; state of kitchens; further memories of Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee; duties; VE Day celebrations; staff in Cabinet War Rooms; V1 and V2 raids; feeling of safety at Cabinet War Rooms; story of friend visiting Princess Margaret at Windsor Castle; visits to concerts at National Gallery; preference for work in London; need for leave passes at Bletchley; radio ban and accommodation at Bletchley Park.
REEL 4 Continues: reflections on war service; visits to cinema; interviews for entry to London School of Economics. Aspects of period as civilian in GB from 1945: background of students including disabled servicemen; details of course; help received from tutors; story of meeting husband Walter Foster through Jewish Society; learning about husband's background; meeting of husband's father and visit to Austria; opinion of period following war; opinion of period at university; financial help gained as student; demobilisation suit; leisure activities; reaction to formation of Israel; visit to Israel in 1950; relationship with father-in-law.