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JESSE WILKINSON
ATS

Jesse was brought up in Haswell, Co. Durham. She was one of eight and her father was the manager of a Co-op. After leaving school she became a children’s nurse for a family.

I was called up and wanted to go into the Nursing Reserve. When I had my medical I was asked if I had had any bad illness and replied that I had had rheumatic fever, so was turned down on the grounds, they said, that “it always affects the heart”. I hadn’t wanted to go into the army as I didn’t like khaki, but at the second attempt I passed ‘A1’ and joined the ATS and had ‘one stripe’. I went to Durham to join the Tank Regiment and was stationed at Barnard Castle but lived in a house in West Auckland and then one at Stainton.

I was asked if I would like to drive, but refused as felt a bit nervous. Instead I went into the medical orderly room, doing such things as taking temperatures. I spent four months at Catterick doing medical training and was then able to give injections. I spent five years in the ATS ~ all at Barnard Castle and thought it ‘Great shakes’!

I had a friend from Kent who had the same leaves and we travelled by train together. Another friend’s family had a cosmetics factory and would send parcels of make-up for us. Socially there were entertainments in local chapels , there was a cinema on camp and there were dances. I married my husband during the War. He was not in the forces as he had a bad leg. He was an accountant in Barnard Castle.

Jesse has lived in Barnard Castle since and brought up her family. She worked at Glaxo, then at the County School, where she looked after the Headmaster’s children before becoming a nurse in the sanatorium.

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