It’s My Life HILDA
Hilda joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) in 1950 on a short-term commission. She studied mathematics at university, and then saw an advert asking for scientists and mathematicians to join for five years to work in meteorology. She worked in Royal Naval Air Stations, and spent much of her time in Scotland, at Abbotsinch and Lossiemouth.
Her team would take readings from teleprinters which were plotted by hand onto charts. Hilda would then join the isobars and make the forecast. She said: “If a pilot was flying out, they would come to us and we’d have a map there which showed the weather pattern, and we’d tell them what to expect. So, the pilot knew if there was going to be bad weather, low cloud and that sort of thing.”
Aſter completing her commission in 1955, Hilda went on to work as a mathematician at British Gas Research Station in Solihull. She is now 97 and a resident at Royal Star & Garter’s Solihull Home.
FLORENCE
We find out the story of some of the incredible women that Royal Star & Garter cares for, and shine a light on their oſten- unsung endeavours which have helped shape a fairer, safer future for all.
Florence married aſter the war and leſt the WAAF in 1946. She had two children, and worked as a social worker, dealing mainly with elderly people and disabled adults. She is a resident at the charity’s Surbiton Home.
MARGARET
Margaret was not yet 18 when she ditched her job as a bank teller and became a Wren, joining the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1944. She was stationed at RAF Flowerdown near Winchester where she helped Allied troops locate and sink enemy submarines by listening to German messages in Morse code. She said: “We were catching U-boats and we were oſten quite successful. It was a very happy life and I think we did a bit of good.”
HILDA FLORENCE
Florence, 99, was a driver in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during WWII – similar to the job held by Queen Elizabeth when she was still a princess. Florence was determined not to spend the war working in a factory, so decided to sign up. She said: “When I was 19, the government decided to take all single women out of office work and put them into factories to make munitions. But there was no way I was going to work in a factory. I went up to the Air Force and said ‘I want to join up’.”
She trained as a driver, and given basic vehicle care instructions, which saw her go into the pit to grease and maintain them. She had hoped to see the world, but was unable to do so. She explained: “They didn’t send women drivers abroad. They thought if she was driving on her own, she’d be assaulted and the vehicle stolen. So, I never had the opportunity to go abroad, which I was quite sorry about.” Instead, Florence worked on airfields, driving airmen to their planes before they took off in missions over Europe.
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Aſter her discharge in 1946, she trained to be a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London before getting married and raising six children. Margaret lives at Royal Star & Garter in High Wycombe.
Pauline Shaw, Director of Care at Royal Star & Garter, said: “We have cared for some astonishing women. Whether it was going behind enemy lines, or fulfilling important functions on these shores, they played a vital role in the Armed Forces, and served our country with distinction.”
www.starandgarter.org
MARGARET
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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