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Wartime memories of Bedford

War work at J.P. White’s, Bedford.
“Then the war started and I went to spray aircraft in an aircraft factory. We didn’t wear masks. I used to like it - we had fun. We had ‘Music While you Work’. We had concerts on the radio and we always got a pint of milk because of the paint. But while I was there, about two years, I got asthma and so that was the end of my working days. The aircraft factory was J P White’s on Bromham Road, Bedford. We worked from seven in the morning until seven at night. Everyone had to do war work, you had to register, you either had to go in the forces or do war work. I decided I’d go to this factory because it was near to where we lived.

VE Day Celebrations
I do remember going to the river and being back at 2 o’clock in the morning because after being ‘in service’ and having to be in at 9 o’clock. It was absolutely packed down by the river, you couldn’t move. There were all the Air Force and the Americans down there. I have a picture from the newspaper of me dancing with an American, it’s a newspaper cutting.�

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