Love and War in the WRNS Read online

  Sorry this is so dull. Really no news at all. Just work!

  Lots of love

  Sheila

  In mid-May the King and Queen pay a visit to Dundee and inspect the Unicorn: ‘it was great fun and they stopped bang in front of me for quite a while and talked for quite some time’:

  15.3

  We had several photographs taken for the papers but the one I’ve seen was in Tuesday’s Scotsman of the Queen signing the visitors book. The King was a bit grumpy and wouldn’t let the Queen inspect us as thoroughly as she would have like to have done and speak to us. He was in a terrific hurry and they didn’t even walk up both files. Thus nearly leaving the ship without signing the book – there was a terrific scramble and they signed it just before they left. There were pipes on board with bo’sun’s whistles – a terrible squeak which made us all want to laugh. Miss Overy was terribly thrilled as she had to conduct the Queen round.

  ❖❖❖

  Life continues with a mixture of work, air raids, dances and some new admirers:

  On Thursday we went to a dance for Forces in the Marryat Hall and I met a sweet Pole called Feliks. He is very musical, has been in a concentration camp in Germany, but escaped through Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy and France. I am meeting him tonight.

  On Wednesday we were in the middle of a club night when the sirens went and I went on fire duty. Likewise on Thursday, when we were dashing up and down stairs half the night but managed to get some sleep. Last night I met Elizabeth and her cousin Grizelda something or other and went to the flicks and the siren went again – so we all dashed out and I got a bus home. We went up and down to the shelter house, and at 11 up to bed. But had to keep our clothes on. Horrid. It lasted from about 9.30 till 2.30 – not bad for Dundee!

  Finally Sheila has some really good news: ‘Paul is home!’ She won’t be able to meet him for three or four weeks, by which time she hopes to have leave, but she is very ‘excited – it was grand to hear him again after 8 months!’ She reminds her gossipy mother that she is not meant to know which ship he was on, ‘and I’m not saying where he is’.

  Meanwhile she has a chance to shine in front of the Chief Officer of Rosyth, Mrs Boyd, who is attending the Wrens’ Club meeting, where Sheila has to read the minutes and the report. Life generally seems to be looking up and you can sense the vitality in her writing again. It also interesting to note the emergence of her responsible attitude and leadership qualities; she doesn’t seem even to be upset by the threat of all leave being cancelled, on account of the fall of Greece and Yugoslavia and British preparations for a counter-attack in the Western Desert:

  Mayfield

  30.3.41

  My dear Mama

  Well Chief Officer came on Wednesday and we had our general club meeting. I had to read out my report and was subsequently re-elected secretary!! Miss Overy was very kind, and thanked me publicly for all my hard work and excellent report and Mrs Boyd was charmed. She has asked for a copy of it and wouldn’t believe I had written it all myself! So it was certainly a stroke of luck that she was there for the meeting as that is the kind of thing that impresses them – especially when I was re-elected unanimously! Well well, Miss Overy apparently told Mrs Boyd that I wanted to do cyphering and not secretarial work. Mrs Boyd is wanting a new secretary herself, but I should loathe to be at Rosyth and anyway I have to wait till I’m 21. The Superintendent is coming here shortly and we are expecting the Director later on, so here’s hoping. Mrs Boyd is a dear and everyone loves her.

  On Tuesday I went out to supper with Rachel with a girl I met at the Steggalls, who is rather nice. Friday was a terrific day. We had a hectic phone call asking for Wrens to go to a concert given to some soldiers who aren’t allowed to move 100 yards from the gun emplacements in mid Craigie so I rounded up a small party and went. There were 100s of soldiers and 8 (no 9) Wrens. The concert was very very good and they had an item which the actors played and then 4 of the audience had to play so P.O. Swire and I decided to go up on the stage. Oh it was terrific fun – and of course everyone died of laughing. I was the mother and my ‘husband’ (I found out after he came from Norwich) was 1/2 my size. Anyway at the end of the play the C.O. had Swire and I on the stage again and said how pleased he was to see Wrens there, and asked us all to come again. They then gave us a huge feast and we were driven home in grand style in an army van. I met a man from Holt beach (!) and he gave me a copy of the Free Press which I have read from cover to cover!

  I have had to work this weekend. Chapman has gone off to OTC [Officers Training Course] at last and whilst walking in the downs on Saturday evening I met Feliks. We went to a canteen and had supper and half the Wrens were there and on to the Empress Ballroom to dance. It is a very nice place. Lovely floor, good band and plenty of room and I quite enjoyed all. He’s a dear really. Though rather solemn. Tho’ it’s not to be wondered at after all he must have been through.

  I have been working today quite hard and although it has been a heavenly day, I’ve not been for a walk. I had to do fire watching from 3/5 and slept till 9, so missed my breakfast, so I’ve been trying to catch up since.

  I’ve had the room to myself this weekend thank goodness. It’s bad enough now, what will it be like in Summer? When I came back on Friday night there was an adorable little gray mouse flopping about the room. I thought I was seeing things, but no, it was a mouse. I have since got a trap for it, but haven’t had the heart to set it. Anyway, haven’t seen or heard the mouse since.

  Please don’t get me new face towels, but send me those I had in London, the orange and the green. It’s no good having anything new here. The laundry is very hard on them. May I please also have my camera? There are plenty of things I would like to take here4

  Must fly – oh we may not be getting leave now – all the men’s has been stopped, but the steward starts tomorrow. Will let you know.

  Heaps of Love

  Sheila

  Can you please find and send me McCall pattern for knickers? It should be in my knitting bag.

  Club life seems to have played an important part in keeping Sheila, and no doubt the rest of the Wrens, sane. They had a club night in the Marryat Hall in Dundee and she took Jean Stobie and Feliks and another Pole, Joseph. This is followed by a ping-pong tournament against the Unicorn, but she says:

  It really is most difficult to think of these Club evenings. Next week we are having a party to celebrate the commissioning of the ship. Then Commander E is giving us a talk. He is a star. We hope to go over to a submarine soon and also another large ship in dock here.

  The visit to the ship was a great success, as she writes to her father on 9 May, in one of her affectionate letters to him giving a round-up of all the news:

  On Wednesday it was our Club Night, and we had arranged with Captain Hellingman to go over the ‘Columbia’ a huge luxury liner in harbour here at the present. It was really great fun – we were taken over by the stewards. Perhaps you have heard of her – she was a liner on the Holland–West Indies route, and is beautiful inside. After we had been taken round, we were taken to the first class lounge, where a lovely meal was arranged for us – I’ve never seen such a luscious cake since before the war, and they were all made on board. Then we had a sing song, and one of the Wrens was most amusing. I met a Dutch officer who had just come back from Newcastle that day, and had spent the night before staying with the Taylors, who are great friends of the Simpsons. I think he knew Sandy [her ex-boyfriend from Durham], but was a little vague. It was great meeting someone like that, and the Engineer, who was sitting at our table, had been in Newcastle too. They say they will invite us all again, and want me to drop in anytime I like, but of course it wouldn’t be quite the thing, an ’umble Wren boarding this luxury liner whenever I pleased, though they couldn’t see it. I do hope they ask us again though. The only silly thing was that they provided drink ad lib, and some of the Wrens were rather foolish, and took too much. But I haven’t told Miss Overy about that side – and
hope she never gets to hear about it, otherwise she’d be furious.

  Last night we had a meeting of our Gardening Club, and had our plots of land allotted to us. I am sharing with the C.P.O. [Chief Petty Officer] Cook and another P.O., and we are hoping to grow lettuces, radishes, onions, and all kinds of things. I’d adore to grow a marrow, but I think it would take up too much space, and we haven’t got room. Tonight Rattray, the C.P.O. and I are going down to Broughty Ferry to sail. Jean Stobie and I met an old man who looks after the Yacht Club last week, and he said he would arrange for us to go out with two youths. Unfortunately Jean is going on leave tonight, so Rattray and I are going. It will be fun, though it has turned rather dull. He says we can go over to Newport or Tayport, or where we like, and of course we can get into civvies (slacks, I suppose) which will be lovely.

  I spent all Wednesday at a Board of Inquiry, which I love. It really is most interesting, and of course I love doing any secret or confidential work. Also, it means extra cash for me, as I get paid at the rate of 6d. per 100 words. Not bad, when you do lots and lots of pages.

  Last night when I was ironing, I found a confidential signal lying on the table, and meant to give it to Jean [Stobie] to deal with, as I suppose one of the stewards had left it there when pressing an officer’s suit. However, I forgot, and so gave it to the Secretary this morning. I happened to mention it to Miss Overy, who naturally thought it was a very serious thing to happen, and said I’d probably get into a row too, though I’m not quite sure why, as I never showed it to anyone, though of course appreciate that I ought to have told someone last night. The officer concerned had seen the signal, and had just left it in his suit, I suppose. Anyway, we shall see. The Secretary mentioned that the Wren concerned would get a bottling. I feel rather sorry, but of course there was no other way out. It’s a very serious thing to let confidential documents lie about – especially when they concern the movements of ships.

  How simply lovely if you were to go to Sierra Leone – though I must say the heat would be very trying. However, if you do, make sure that if there are any Wrens there, that I must go too. It would be glorious. I’m simply dying for the opportunity to go abroad – though they haven’t sent many ratings yet. They may do, of course, in which case I shall certainly volunteer.

  Mummy has been to Hunston, I see from a letter forwarded by Rosemary today, and has seen nearly everyone worth seeing, including the gorgeous Pompey [cat]. What fun.

  I went to Woolworths today, and was able to buy slabs of chocolate, which was a score. Our Canteen has at last given out, and we can get no more, but we are having apples instead, which is really much better for us. I had a letter from Joy yesterday asking if I could send her some chocolate, but there’s not much hope now, as we are only able to buy a limited amount. How do you manage for cigarettes? We are able to buy lots and lots here in our Canteen here, but they are H.M. Ships only, and I’d get a devil of a row if I were to send you any. They do all kinds of things to prevent such things happening – they even have special forms about it.

  I must now pack up and go back to Mayfield, as I want to buy my daily apple from the Canteen, and also get ready for going out tonight.

  With lots of love,

  Sheila

  Looking through her scrapbook, I found a letter dated 21 June from the Hon Sec of the Carolina Club, as the Wrens’ Club was called, enclosing a brooch and engraved cufflinks ‘as a small token of appreciation for all the work you did for the Carolina Club while you serving in Dundee’. To her mother, she writes:

  I had a lovely surprise yesterday when some gold cuff links SFM and WRNS and an anchor on them, and a naval hat badge broach [sic], arrived as a parting gift from the Carolina Club Wrens of which I was secretary. I feel so smart in them, and am very touched.

  She had kept these for the rest of her life, and I found them after she died, along with many other wartime mementoes.

  Meanwhile affairs of the heart are still uppermost in Sheila’s mind: her mother has forwarded on a letter from Jaap, sent home to avoid the nosy-parkers at Mayfield. ‘Poor Jaap! He is having a very miserable time and has been in a “horrible bad mood” since he left Dundee. I do wish they would all come back here – we did have such fun and I did like Jaap so much.’ As for Paul – her leave has been cancelled and as ‘things are so uncertain these days’ she’s not sure if they will coincide. ‘He will just have to come to Dundee and see me. That seems the only thing to do, and I have written and told him so.’

  Paul does eventually get leave and they manage to meet in Edinburgh in June.

  Following the pattern of her relationships yet to come she adds, ‘as usual we scrapped and disagreed but made it up in the end.’ He was due back again in November.

  All romantic thoughts quickly disappear when in mid-May she tells her mother that there will be a post for a Wren writer abroad:

  Mayfield

  14.5.41

  Dear Mummy and Daddy –

  This is in a terrific hurry – and I want an answer straight away – Miss Overy told me in the strictest confidence that there will be a post for a Wren Writer abroad very shortly and would I like to go. If so, she is prepared to recommend me. It is terribly interesting, and I’d be the only one, but she can’t tell me where it is. The only thing is that I’d be recommended for a commission very shortly – probably anytime now as the Chief Officer says I’m eligible. What on earth am I to do? You see abroad, I wouldn’t have a commission and wouldn’t do so well off, but would have a special subsistence allowance anyway. I think it wouldn’t matter as regards social activities whether I had a commission or not of course the work would be much more interesting than as a Cypher Officer, which gets very boring. Now, I don’t want you to decide for me, but just to say as soon as you possibly can whether you would allow me to go as I am not 21. It would be a great honour – the Superintendent may not of course consider me suitable, but the Chief Officer and Mrs Boyd are with me.

  Now I must fly – please let me know BY RETURN, as it is very important we know at once. Wire if you like, but don’t divulge anything as it’s a dead secret.

  Heaps of Love,

  Sheila

  We never hear the response, and the next letter is from the Royal Naval College, Greenwich where she is taking an Officers’ Training Course in Cyphering. It seems she got an unexpected summons to a Selection Board at Rosyth on 22 May. ‘If you are successful in passing that Selection Board, you will probably be required to attend an O.T.C. at Greenwich on 28 May.’ This memorandum is pasted in her scrapbook.

  It appears all went well and she left in a great hurry, calling in to see her parents at Durham, where she boarded the sleeper and, in true scatty Sheila style, managed to leave her gas mask, post office book and haversack behind. This was quite serious, she simply ‘dare not arrive without a gasmask, and with great trouble managed to buy one’ by giving an address of somewhere that had been bombed!

  There are 49 of them on the course, and they sleep in dormitories. Her room overlooks the river. They are instructed in cyphering and teleprinting until 6.45pm each day, and also have lectures. Their only ‘relaxation’ is the meals, which they take in the Painted Hall, and which are ‘excellent – we are even allowed to have dinner with the Naval officers, so we are coming on.’

  Her mother has forwarded a letter from Jaap, with an ‘awfully nice’ photograph of himself enclosed. He is still depressed. Apparently clothes rationing has just been introduced; she can’t resist a quick barb at her flighty sister: ‘Just serves Rosemary right, and people like her.’ At least in the services, most of your clothes are provided free of charge!

  She has made a new friend, Marian, whose mother is later to lend Sheila her bike in Methil, her next posting, and together they manage to ‘have a good laugh’ at being waited on and called ‘ma’am’.

  Stopping in Durham en route to the OTC; Sheila with her father in the garden.

  The course is a precursor to being promoted to Third Office
r, provided she passes of course – as she tells her father on 5 June:

  Royal Naval College,

  Greenwich S.E.10.

  5.6.41

  Telephone: Greenwich 0606.

  Telegrams: College, Greenwich.

  Dear Daddy,

  Thank you very much indeed for sending me the £1 via Mama – as a matter of fact expenditure to date has been very low, but I expect the pull will come when we are drafted and get no pay at all until we are commissioned.

  Am very much enjoying my course, and so hope I pass out all right. I have finished with Cypher at the end of today, completed my 2 lessons on one special machine, and go on to teleprinting tomorrow.

  Yesterday Moss Bros came down to fit us for uniform, and I have placed an order with them. And they are supposed to be very good. And also are most reasonable. I’ve ordered 2 suits, one bridge coat and a hat, and if I don’t pass out all right they take responsibility. The suits I have ordered in superfine as I hate serge and the difference in price is negligible, and Hall, Gieves and Lillywhites have also been but are much more expensive.

  I am hoping to spend next weekend in London, as I have it free, but may return here on Saturday night. I don’t know yet. Then on Monday we have our board – and learn the fateful news.