Cold and windy

It has been a very cold and windy weekend here... we even had snow on the ground this morning, although it was all gone by lunchtime. Alex wasn't sure that he approved of the cold weather, which as he has the same stinking cold as the rest of us was not that surprising. Despite that he was fine in the park yesterday for the first 20 minutes, until I wouldn't let him go in the extremely muddy and deep puddle on the field, at that point he decided enough was enough...if he couldn't do what he wanted to do he was going to let me know about it very loudly. The screams didn't stop until we got home 20 minutes later. Today I didn't bother going to the park...we went for a walk to the shops and then when we came home I let him decide if he wanted to play outside and he decided that the leaves were definitely worth being outside in the cold for! When inside we have had the greatest of fun playing with cars, chase, and extremely wet and splashy bath times.

Crafting wise I have been working on Gran's scrapbook as I really need to get it finished soon. This first page is of Gran's secondary school where she was from 1936-1941. The journalling reads 'In 1936 Joyce passed the scholarship exam to Itchen secondary school and was given a new bike. The weekend that war was declared, 3rd September 1939, the family were visiting cousins and returned home to find that the school had been evacuated to Andover. As Joyce wanted to complete her School Certificate she followed to Andover and was billeted with Mr and Mrs Sims, a lovely Methodist couple who made Joyce feel right at home. The house was a lot of fun and she has many fond memories of her evacuation period.'

The second page is of the next year of the war (1941-42) and the journalling reads: 'Upon leaving school Joyce joined Lloyds Bank in Woolston as a ledger clerk. At 17 she was promoted to No. 3 cashier and opened a sub-branch in Burlesdon once a week, travelling on the bus with the money in a Gladstone bag attached by a thong round her waist! She is pictured here with her friend Hazel from the bank. Air raids were now a regular occurrence and she had one very close encounter when, before she could get into the shelter, one of the planes diverted to fire on the air balloon nearby, guns blazing. She fell to the ground and the bullets strafed the edge of the path. In the meantime Les had joined the Home Guard at the beginning of the war and then joined the RAF - he is pictured here in his RAF uniform with the rest of the family.'

The final page will go opposite the last one in the scrapbook and the journalling reads '1942 all women born between June and December 1942 had to go into aircraft or factories as there was a shortage of vital war equipment so Joyce got a job with Saunders-Roe. Following her 6 week fitters course, which she passed with flying colours, she became an inspector working on Walrus flying boats, checking the emergency repair kits, the cables that worked the rudder and ailerons, and checking the pipes were clean. She had a promotion at 18, checking altimeters, artificial horizons and swung compasses instead. The factory finally closed early in 1946, and she went home and found work as a telegraphist in the Dock Post Office. Shortly afterwards Roy was demobbed and they became engaged.' The photo on this one is of Gran with all the other girls from the factory. I have many other stories of Gran's experiences during the war, but she has actually written them into a little book so I feel that I can get away with only recording the highlights here. I would love to know what you think. Have a great weeke everyone.

Love,

Caro

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