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This story has been submitted to the People's War website by Jenny Finch of the Lancshomeguard on behalf of Violet Lillian Beetham and added to the site with her permission.

We were well known around Manchester “Mrs Broadhurst and girls”, Mrs Broadhurst being our mother who had a wonderful singing voice. She used to take us around the hotels and pubs singing all the latest songs like Chloe and Song of Songs etc, we played to packed out venues, and collected money for the soldiers.

Trafford Park was bombed nightly as they tried to blow up the gas works but kept missing it thank goodness. We had a dog called Rex who used to carry a shopping basket in his mouth. One day for no apparent reason he dropped the shopping and ran for his life-when we reached home he was sat at the back of the air raid shelter just ahead of the big bang-he could hear the bombs long before we could. I worked twelve- hour shifts at Glovers cables then went out entertaining in the evenings it was a very fulfilling life.

I married in 1940 and we used a recommended wedding photographer from Chester Road Stretford- the photographs were marvellous. However three months later the photographer was arrested-it turned out he was a member of the fifth column and had all sorts of transmitting equipment down in his basement.

I miscarried my first baby boy in the blitz when the back of the air raid shelter was blown in luckily we were sitting on the left hand side. My Grandma was deaf and didn’t hear the sirens and she was killed in her own home in Moss side.

On VE day I was twenty-seven and dancing on the tables in the Gorse Hotel at Stretford what a night that was!

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