‘Oh my,’ Lizzie had gasped as she and Jane stepped off the train. ‘I didn’t realize it would be so big.’
‘It’s massive,’ Jane murmured. ‘D’you think they’ve built this railway line ’specially?’
‘Yes, they have,’ a voice piped up beside them. There stood a blonde girl, with bright lipstick and a cheery grin. ‘I’m from Bradford and I can get here on t’train. They built a special single track that goes reet round t’site, so trains drop workers off and then wait in the sidings to pick them up.’ She glanced up and down at Lizzie and Jane. ‘I’m Angela. Where a’thee from?’
‘Sheffield,’ the two girls chorused and introduced themselves. ‘We’re staying at one of the hostels near Wetherby,’ Lizzie told her. The three girls walked into the site together.
‘You need to report to t’admin block there.’ Angela waved her hand towards a long, single-storey building. ‘I’ll sithee later.’
‘See you later,’ Lizzie chuckled and as the girl moved away, she added, ‘I like her. I hope all the women are like that.’
The administration block had been built some distance from the production buildings for safety and was also close to the station. Here, they met up with several other new girls reporting for work. They spent the first day being given the uniforms they would have to wear: white cotton jackets and trousers or skirts, with a coloured headscarf.
‘Not much different to buff brats, is it?’ Lizzie murmured to Jane.
‘The colour of your headgear,’ their instructor, a Mrs Giles, told them, ‘denotes what shift you’re on. Now, you girls are all staying at the hostels, aren’t you?’
There was a ripple of assent through the room, crowded with about twenty-five girls and young women. Glancing around, Lizzie felt she must be one of the oldest there.
‘Your train journey to work will be paid for by the company and you will find a weekly train ticket in your wage packet. The shift pattern is mornings, afternoons and nights, and when you arrive at the beginning of your shift, you will report to what we call the shifting house, where you will have to leave your personal possessions, matches, cigarette lighters and anything made of metal that might cause a spark including all items of jewellery. Even your wedding and engagement rings, I’m afraid.’ There was a murmur of disappointment, but the instructor, a severe-faced, thin woman, was adamant. ‘Nor are you allowed to take in any food. You can collect all your belongings at the end of your shift.’
They were divided up and told where they would be working. Mrs Giles picked out Lizzie, Jane and two other girls. ‘You’ll be working in Group Two, where you’ll be making fuse magazine pellets using TNT and Tetryl – highly explosive materials, so it is vital you obey all the regulations. This is one place where rules are NOT made to be broken.’
‘She’s a bit of a tartar, isn’t she?’ Lizzie muttered, as they were led away to the series of buildings where they would work.
‘I think she has to be,’ Jane murmured. ‘It all sounds a bit dangerous, Lizzie. Are you sure we’ve done the right thing?’
‘’Course we have. Just think of all that lovely money in your pay packet at the end of the week.’
‘As long as we’re still alive to spend it.’
The rest of the day was spent watching how to paste and wrap the pellets. It was a dirty job and at the end of the shift their hands were yellow.
‘It’s a bit monotonous, isn’t it?’ Jane remarked, as they climbed aboard the train at the end of their shift. ‘There’s not even the variety we had welding and certainly not when we were buffing.’
‘We’ve just swapped black dust for yellow dust,’ Lizzie said dryly.
But there were compensations; life in the hostel was merry.
‘They’re a great bunch of girls here, aren’t they?’ Lizzie said at the end of their first week and Jane agreed.
‘The best part for me is that no one knows me. Except you, of course, and I can trust you.’
Lizzie chuckled. ‘You certainly can. I’m no angel either, Jane, and I expect there are a few more here who’ve got a colourful past, if only we knew.’
By degrees, they got to know all the girls in their hostel, some later than others because they were on different shifts. In their free time, they chatted and laughed and exchanged stories, though Lizzie was careful not to say too much about her life back in Sheffield. She’d hidden the fact that she was married from the time she had worked as a welder in the city and she wasn’t sure whether she would have been allowed to come here if the authorities had known. She’d been careful to give her name as Elizabeth Dugdale so that it matched with her birth certificate, in case she was asked to produce it. She knew she could rely on Jane not to give her away; Jane had secrets too.
If they had enough time off, they would go into one of the bigger towns or cities to the theatre or the cinema, but mostly they made their own entertainment in the hostel. Occasionally, they would organize an outing to the seaside, but a trip to Bridlington in April disheartened them when they saw the pillboxes in the sand hills and the anti-tank blocks in close formation on the beach. It seemed to bring the war even closer to them than the work they were doing every day.
‘I shan’t go on another outing there,’ Lizzie declared. ‘It depresses me.’
Fifty-Three
In Sheffield, Lizzie’s whereabouts were still shrouded in mystery and when Billy came home on leave in May, there was very little any of them could tell him. He’d got a seventy-two-hour pass this time with the hope of being able to track down his wife.
Stepping into the house at Emily’s invitation, he thrust a bunch of flowers at her. ‘I’m sorry about last time, Emily. I was out of order saying what I did. You’re not to blame for whatever she’s done. I know that. But please,’ he glanced at both Emily and Trip, ‘I’m begging you, have you any idea where she’s gone? She hasn’t even bothered to write to me. I’m half out of me mind with worry.’
‘Sit down, Billy. We do know a little bit more now than we did before, but not much. The only thing we knew last time was that she hadn’t left Sheffield. This time, she wrote to her mother and left an address. The Post Office in Wetherby.’
‘Ah, right. I haven’t seen Ma-in-law yet. She’s out.’
‘I expect she’s at the WVS. She spends a lot of her time there now.’
Hesitantly, Trip said, ‘I have been able to find out a bit of something, Billy, but it’s very hush-hush and you mustn’t breathe a word.’
‘I’m used to that, Trip. “Careless talk”, and all that. Go on.’
‘Well, this is serious. If the enemy got to know of this location, it would be disastrous.’ He took a deep breath. ‘There’s a filling factory near Wetherby at Thorp Arch.’
‘What’s that when it’s at home?’
‘It’s the most dangerous of all the Royal Ordnance Factories. It’s where they fill the bomb and shell casings with explosives. That’s why they’re located in rural areas. You couldn’t have one of those in a city or even a town.’
‘And my Lizzie’s gone there?’ Billy was shocked.
‘I’m sorry to say it, Billy,’ Trip said slowly, ‘but I think it’s possible. I’ve heard that there are several girls from Sheffield who’ve gone there.’
Billy turned to Emily. ‘I only have one day’s leave left, so can I ask a big favour?’
‘Of course, Billy. What is it?’
‘Will you take me to this place near Wetherby?’
‘I don’t know if we should. If it’s so secret, it’s very likely they won’t let us in.’
‘Probably not, but the workers will have to come out sometime, won’t they? I just want to see if I can see her.’
Emily sighed. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea, Billy, but yes, if you really want to go, I’ll take you.’
Billy didn’t know that Emily’s reluctance was because she was very afraid of what they might find when they got there. It had nothing to do with the dangerous work that Lizzie might be
involved in now, but more to do with what she might be up to in her free time.
They set off early the following morning. ‘She’ll be working shifts, I expect,’ Emily said, ‘so we might not see her and they certainly won’t let us into the premises.’
‘It’s worth a try,’ was all Billy would say.
And, sadly, ‘a try’ was all it was.
They managed to gain admittance to the administration block, where a man took their details and requested, very formally, the nature of their business there.
Billy kept his temper in check. ‘I would like to see my wife, if you please. Mrs Lizzie – Elizabeth, that is – Nicholson.’
The man stared at him. ‘Your wife, sir? There are no married women here, I can assure you.’
‘She might have said she wasn’t married,’ Emily put in, smiling pleadingly at him. ‘But we think she’s working here. Please can you check if you have anyone working here of that name?’
The man was obviously reluctant, but he couldn’t resist Emily’s lovely smile.
‘I’ll try and find out for you.’
He was gone for twenty minutes whilst Billy paced up and down impatiently.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, when he came back. ‘There’s no one of that name here.’
‘We must have got it wrong,’ Billy muttered. Then he asked, ‘Are there any other munitions factories near here or anywhere doing war manufacturing? She trained as a welder. She might be doing something in that line.’
‘I really can’t say, sir,’ the man said primly.
Billy was very tempted to give the man the same response that he had to Emily months previously, but he held his tongue. Antagonizing those in any kind of authority was not a good idea!
‘I just wanted to see her,’ Billy murmured, as they were forced to give up and drive away. ‘Surely they could have let me see her?’
‘Billy, if she is working there, I don’t think she’s supposed to be married. That man was positively shocked when you said you were looking for your wife.’
‘I don’t reckon he believed me – that I was married to her, I mean.’
‘Perhaps we’ve got it wrong. Maybe she’s not there at all.’
‘Then where the hell is she? And why hasn’t she been writing to me? I haven’t had a letter from her in weeks.’
‘Neither has her mother.’
‘Do you think something’s happened to her, Emily? I couldn’t bear it if – if . . .’
‘No, I don’t. We’d have been informed if it had. I think the fact is that it’s so top secret, the workers are probably told not to communicate with family more than necessary.’
‘But surely it’s “necessary” that she should at least be able to let us know that she’s all right, even if she can’t tell us much else.’
Emily sighed. ‘I’m so sorry, Billy, but I really don’t know.’ For once Emily was able to be completely truthful; she really didn’t know where Lizzie was or what she was doing.
Billy was obliged to leave the following morning without having seen Lizzie or even having heard anything about her. Emily was desperately sorry for him, but there was nothing else she could do except promise him that if she heard anything, she would write to him at once.
Three months after Billy’s visit, there was an urgent knocking on Emily’s front door in the middle of the night.
She sat up suddenly in bed. ‘What on earth is that? Is it an air raid? I didn’t hear the sirens. Trip, wake up. Someone’s banging on our door.’
Trip roused himself sleepily. ‘Drunks, I expect, on their way home from the pub.’
‘It’s a bit late for that. It’s gone midnight.’
She scrambled out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown.
‘Stay here, Emily. I’ll go.’ Trip pushed his feet into his slippers and reached for his own dressing gown. ‘I don’t want you answering the door at this time of night. There’s no knowing who it might be.’
‘I’m coming down with you.’
When Trip opened the door, she was shocked to hear him say, ‘Mrs Dugdale and – Good Lord – Jane? What’s happened? Come in, come in.’
‘We’re sorry to bother you, Trip, but I didn’t know who else to turn to.’ Bess was in tears. ‘It’s Lizzie. Jane’s come all the way home to tell me. There’s been an accident where they work and Lizzie’s badly injured.’
‘Oh no! Emily – Emily,’ Trip called. Come quickly . . .’
‘I’m here. I heard.’ She put her arms around the older woman. ‘What can we do? Here, sit down – both of you. Jane, tell us what’s happened.’
‘I can’t say much – you know that. But she’s been burned all down her left arm and the left side of her face.’
‘Her face! Oh, her lovely face,’ Bess moaned. ‘She’ll be scarred for life.’
‘Maybe it’s not as bad as that,’ Emily began, but Jane shook her head. ‘It is, Mrs Trippet. One girl was killed outright and three more injured like Lizzie.’
‘Where is she?’ Trip asked. ‘We’ll take you to her.’
‘Leeds. They’ve taken them all to a Leeds hospital,’ Jane said. ‘I think they said the St James.’
‘Right, Mrs Dugdale,’ the ever-practical Trip said. ‘You go home and get yourself ready. I’ll take you to Leeds right now.’
‘In the dark, Trip?’
‘Yes, my car’s fitted with the headlight adaptors, but we’ll have to go rather slowly, I’m afraid.’
‘Can you take me back, Mr Trippet?’ Jane asked. ‘I’m on afternoons tomorrow and there’ll be hell to pay if I don’t turn up.’
‘Is the place still working, then?’
‘Yes, the explosion was only in one section. It’s a huge site . . .’ Jane clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh my – I shouldn’t have told you that. Please – please don’t say anything to anyone.’
Trip put his arm around the frightened girl. The accident to her friend had shaken her badly, yet she knew she must go back and do her duty.
‘Don’t worry. We know all about secrecy when involved in government work.’
It wasn’t long before the four of them were in Trip’s car and heading out of the city. Emily sat beside him in the front passenger seat to help watch the road in the darkness. It seemed a long time before they reached the outskirts of Leeds.
‘Do you know where the hospital is, Jane?’
‘No, sorry.’
‘Look, Trip, there’s an Air Raid Warden. Pull up. We can ask him.’
The man insisted they all show him their identity cards before he would give them directions. ‘Visiting someone there, are you, sir?’
Trip indicated Bess sitting in the back of the car. ‘We’ve come from Sheffield. We’ve just heard that Mrs Dugdale’s daughter’s been injured in an accident where she works, except that we don’t actually know where she works. It all seems very hush-hush.’
‘Oh-ah.’ The man said no more, but from the tone of his voice it sounded as if he had a shrewd idea of exactly what had happened. In the back seat, Jane kept her head down.
‘It’ll be difficult for you to find it in the blackout,’ the warden said. ‘If you hang on a minute, I’ve got my motorcycle over there. I’ll lead the way.’
‘That’s very good of you.’
They followed the dim back light of the motorcycle through the unfamiliar streets. As they pulled up in front of the hospital, Trip said, ‘That was a piece of luck finding him. We’d never have found this place in the blackout.’
The warden was standing his machine up and coming back to the car. ‘I’ll take you in, if you like. We might be able to cut down a bit on the formalities if I’m with you.’
A night porter admitted them. ‘I’ve already checked their identity cards, Jim,’ the warden greeted the porter. ‘I think they’re here about one of the lasses brought in today. They’ve come from Sheffield.’
Trip saw him wink and the porter nodded. ‘Aye, come this way, folks. I’ll find the sister on n
ight duty for you.’ He showed them into a small waiting room. ‘And I’ll see if I can rustle up some tea.’
They were drinking the tea when a sister in a dark blue dress beneath a starched white apron bustled in, carrying a sheaf of papers.
‘I understand you’re looking for your daughter?’ Her eyes alighted on Bess as she was the oldest woman there.
Bess nodded, but found she couldn’t speak.
‘Her name is . . . ?’
‘Mrs Elizabeth Nicholson,’ Emily spoke up.
The sister consulted her notes. ‘I don’t have anyone by that name here.’
Bess’s face contorted with anxiety and disappointment.
‘I’m sure it was St James they said,’ Jane murmured. ‘Oh Mrs Dugdale, I’m so sorry, I must have got it wrong. What can we do now?’ She glanced helplessly at Trip as if, being the man of the group, he would have some suggestion. He turned towards the sister to ask about the other city hospitals, but she was staring at Bess.
‘Did you say “Mrs Dugdale”?’
‘Yes,’ Bess answered, her voice shaking. ‘It’s my daughter Lizzie we’re looking for.’
‘We do have an Elizabeth Dugdale,’ the sister said.
Emily gasped. ‘That’s her,’ and added under her breath, ‘No wonder we couldn’t find her. She gave her maiden name.’
But the sister’s sharp ears had caught Emily’s murmured words. She glanced at Emily and asked, rather curtly, ‘Is she married?’
‘Yes, her husband’s away in the army.’
‘I – see.’ The sister paused, then said, ‘Do you know the place where she was working?’
‘Don’t answer her,’ Jane said shrilly. ‘I’ll get into trouble.’
The sister’s face softened. She could see that the young woman was very agitated and distressed. She glanced at her watch and then sat down beside them. At once, her manner seemed gentler. ‘Look, you’ve nothing to fear from me, my dear. We all know about secrecy and, from her injuries, I have a good idea where she was working. Two other girls were brought in at the same time, so it’s rather obvious to anyone living in this area. I’ll have a guess, shall I, and then if you don’t deny it, I’ll know, but you won’t have told me anything. All right?’
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