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When the war started I was still at school. After two years further education a friend and I applied to the women’s forces but the WRENS and WAAF had ceased recruiting for the time being. The ATS had a waiting list but required parents permission for under 21’s. Our parents refused this.

After working in a land agency we heard that the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ were being evacuated to Bedford so we applied to them and were accepted, starting in administration After that I worked in various departments, including the Music Dept when Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Arthur Bliss were the chief conductors of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra. However, as I had no musical education I thought it was time to change and applied for a vacancy in the Music Productions Dept where I remained for several years.

The head of the dept and chief conductor was Stanford Robinson and our orchestra was the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Theatre Orchestra and Theatre Chorus, trained by John Clements. The other conductor was a young Charles Groves who became a very well known and successful conductor after the war. The orchestra gave many public concerts in Bedford and other towns which were broadcast on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Service.

After the war the orchestra returned to London where we had studios in Maida Vale.

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