Children in Her Shadow (3 page)

Though the impact of war was slow to penetrate this small community, signs of the seriousness of what lay ahead were becoming evident. Every household received a leaflet from the government, signed by Winston Churchill with instructions on how the public should conduct themselves in the event of a German invasion. Fuel for private vehicles became very limited as was paraffin oil which was often used for lighting or heating.

Bus timetables were rescheduled, and buses, a lifeline for these small communities were rescheduled with fewer running during the day and only very limited services at night.

Food and clothing were rationed and households were instructed to ensure they complied with the night time black out requirement. Indeed, it was an offence for any artificial light to be seen emitting from any building lest the German Luftwaffe were given crucial navigating clues to help them identify their bombing targets.

Soon gas masks were issued and it was essential that they were carried at all times. Identity cards were issued to adults and children were given identity tags to wear around their necks. With every requirement, with every restriction and with every need to prove identity came paranoia about spies.

This fitted the psyche of village people and was the cause of many rumours in Senghenydd. On one occasion the school inspector was ‘identified’ as a spy and temporarily incarcerated in the cold store of the butchers shop until the police constable was able to satisfy himself that the man was who he said he was.

Ruth increasingly felt the need to do her bit for the war effort. She discussed this with her mother whose advice was naturally biased against seeing her lovely daughter Ruth leaving the village, but, ever the pragmatist Maeve recognised that this increasingly self assured young woman would inevitably get what she wanted.

The course of the war was not going well. On the tenth of May nineteen forty Hitler’s armies had struck westwards across Europe and within three weeks Holland and Belgium had surrendered and the German Panzer divisions had split the British and French armies. The BBC Home Service tried hard to play down the seriousness in their broadcasts to the nation but the public knew that things looked dire.

The British Expeditionary Force had found themselves trapped near the port of Dunkirk. On twenty fifth of May Boulogne was captured and on the following day the town and port of Calais had also fallen.

That evening the British Admiralty signalled the start of the evacuation of the four hundred thousand British and French troops stranded on the beaches at Dunkirk under the code name operation Dynamo. The assembled ships which included thirty five passenger ferries, cargo vessels, coastal vessels and forty Dutch self propelled barges set sail and by the end of the first day had managed to evacuate only seven thousand five hundred troops.

In England the authorities had gathered in Ramsgate every available seaworthy boat or ship which included many privately owned pleasure craft and their skippers and on twenty ninth of May the first convoy of
little craft
, lifeboats and trawlers had set sail for Dunkirk.

By the second of June, and despite the odds being stacked against them, this valiant armada had evacuated three hundred and thirty eight thousand British troops. The nation was elated but what remained was the fear that the might of the German army was poised to next invade Britain.

By the first anniversary of the war in September nineteen forty, London was being heavily bombed and casualties were running into hundreds in each raid. It was these stories and a yearning to feel she was playing her part in the war effort that drove Ruth to accept an offer of a job to work in the general post office in Cardiff. This was for Ruth a real opportunity to replace someone called to do military service and in so doing to serve her country. The offer reflected well on Ruth’s achievements in the local post office and at the tender age of seventeen she knew that it was an opportunity she must take. That was the easy decision. Ruth knew that convincing her father could be considerably more difficult.

The job offer was to work five and a half days per week as a counter clerk and it was made clear that she would need to live within walking distance of the city centre of Cardiff. The letter indicated that an employee would be prepared to offer lodgings and it was this element of the proposal that was particularly attractive, given the serious overcrowding in Ruth’s Senghenydd home.

Fearing a negative reaction from her father, Ruth and her mother quickly arranged to visit the general post office in Cardiff to complete the formalities and then ….to face him with the fait accompli. Ruth’s meeting was to be with a Mrs Nash, the personnel manager who was also suggesting accommodation in the home of one of employees in the City suburb of Splott, a manageable walk into Cardiff City centre.

The bus journey to Cardiff was a forty five minute meander through hamlets and villages and the nearby town of Caerphilly. Cardiff was a place that both Ruth or her mother visited rarely and it had been some considerable time since their last trip there.

On arrival in Cardiff they both were shocked by the images they saw. Military personnel were everywhere as were police and air raid wardens. Air Raid Precaution wardens, always referred to as ARPs, were responsible for ensuring that the night time blackout was observed and they also had the responsible job of sounding air raid sirens in the event of a potential bombing raid. They would also ensure that people cleared the streets in the event of an air raid warning and that they went into public air raid shelters quickly and calmly.

The ARP warden who stopped Ruth and her mother recognised instantly the bewildering look on the faces of two
valley people
who had not ventured into Cardiff for some time and he quickly took them to one side. He checked their identity and that they had put their gas mask in the webbing pouch over their shoulders. Ruth later discovered that it was not uncommon for ladies to use the gas mask bag as a shoulder hand bag much to the annoyance of the police and ARPs.

Ruth was asked where they were going and showed the letter from the post office. They were directed to the post office but not before being alerted to where the public air raid shelters were to be found.

As they walked the few minutes to Westgate Street, Ruth’s mother repeatedly asked, “Are you absolutely sure that this is what you want to do,” reflecting her own apprehension far more than was evident from the excited Ruth whose eyes and ears were soaking up the sights and sounds of this busy City.

The appointment at the post office was for two o’clock and as it was only twelve noon, and having found the location of the post office they strolled in the September sunshine to Cardiff market for an early lunch. Ruth had very fond memories of the market from the two or three visits she had made with Auntie Lott and Uncle Arthur as a small child and was keen to show her mother.

The covered market which was built in the late eighteen hundreds had a wide range of independent stalls on its two floors. The great attraction to children as it still was to Ruth today was the small pet shops with their rabbits, puppies and budgerigars. However, whilst there were some pet stalls, many had been replaced not with pet rabbits but with stalls selling baby rabbits for home rearing for the table! The meat stalls had very limited supplies as did the cheese and fish stalls and what was there was largely available on ration only. There were plenty of local vegetables but very few buyers.

Ruth and her mother took the stairs to the first floor and with Ruth pulling her mother excitedly they went to a small cafe bar. The cafe itself was very small but with the tables that were located on the landing space outside the cafe there was plenty of room. They sat at a vacant table and decided to order faggots and peas, tea and a slice of bread and margarine each.

As they waited for their food, Ruth looked around the cafe at the other customers and was struck by the greyness of their attire and their demeanour. The customers, mostly women were mainly in their thirties and forties. Despite the relative warmth of the season, their dresses were dark, shoes were unflattering and their hair was generally brushed up onto their head almost as though it was a defiant wartime fashion statement.

These people looked withdrawn, distant and unfriendly and their conversations were held in whispered tones. Despite the dreariness of their companion’s attire Ruth realised that she and her mother were instantly recognisable to them as valley people and as such were different. But Ruth cared not, she was in Cardiff and she was happy.

Their lunch arrived; the faggots and peas were served in a white soup bowl and their tea in a large chipped white mug. Faggots were a staple of the diet in south Wales and despite their valley connections they were loved by most people irrespective of their social class. Made with pig’s liver, onions, beef suet and breadcrumbs, faggots were served piping hot in tennis ball size portions with lashings of Bovril gravy.

With lunch finished Ruth and her mother walked to Westgate Street and arrived at the post office fifteen minutes before Ruth’s meeting with Mrs Nash. Ruth spoke to a member of staff and having explained that she was here for an interview, was swiftly ushered with her mother out of the banking hall through a secure door marked ‘staff only’ into a corridor and asked to sit in an alcove window seat.

The general post office building was impressive, built at the end of the nineteenth century with opulence and impact being as important as its functional use as a general post office to the city. The wide corridor where they sat bore all the hallmarks of a grand public building with oak panelled walls and large paintings, one of the King and Queen and several of former managers alongside the imposing figures of the current and recent post master generals.

The floor was equally impressive with decorative oak parquet and the seating in each window recess was leather upholstered, deep and very comfortable. Doors opened and closed along the corridor and smartly dressed men and women quietly entered and exited, busy with the work of the day.

Without warning a smartly dressed diminutive young lady walked quietly up to Ruth and said in hushed tones, “Miss O’Connor, will you be kind enough to follow me and I will take you to the office of Mrs Nash.” Ruth sprang to her feet and found herself having to run the first few steps to catch up with the young lady in time to be ushered into the small sparsely furnished office of Mrs Nash. As Ruth nervously shook the hand of Mrs Nash her heart sank as she saw through the corner of her eye, her mother doing the same. Unperturbed Mrs Nash invited Ruth and her mother to take a seat at her desk.

Though Mrs Nash was clearly doing all she could to settle the nervous Ruth before they began, the whole impact of the office, her imposing roll top desk and the presence of her mother left Ruth questioning why she was putting herself through this ordeal

The meeting was short and friendly with Ruth being told a little more about the job, the rules and the requirement for smart attire for all counter clerks. She was told about the familiarisation period of one month during which she would be trained and supervised both on and off the job. At the end of the brief explanation, Mrs Nash turned to face Ruth and asked, “Now Ruth do you have any questions you want to ask me?”

Ruth felt her mouth dry up but as she was about to reply she heard the voice of her mother, “Now Mrs Nash” she began, folding her arms across her chest, whilst at the same time Ruth wished the floor could open up and consume her. “Now Mrs Nash, you said that someone would be offering Ruth some digs, can we talk about that and also, you haven’t said anything about how much my Ruth will be paid.” Ruth could feel herself blushing from her chest, up her neck and across her cheeks; she was by now visibly shaking with embarrassment.

Mrs Nash, in a remarkably understanding way turned to both Ruth and her mother and explained that the wage would be confirmed in writing within two days but would be two pounds and five shillings for the first month rising to two pounds ten shillings on satisfactory completion of the shortened probationary period because of Ruth’s previous “exemplary” work record in the Sengenedd post office.

Clearly recognising the anxiety of a mother concerned about the details of where Ruth would live she pressed a small button on her desk and almost instantaneously the young lady who had brought them into the office previously appeared.

It quickly became evident that she was Mrs Nash’s secretary and was called Mary Morgan. It transpired that Mary was offering Ruth the opportunity to share her room in her mother’s house to help bring some extra income to the family household. Mary also explained that one of the post office mail supervisors was renting their spare room. Ruth’s mother looked startled and again picking up on the concern of a protective mother Mrs Nash explained, “The
lady
who rents Mrs Morgan’s spare room supervises the
mail
sorting room for mail destined for the valleys.” A relieved Mrs O’Connor and an amused Mrs Nash smiled at each other as the humour in the situation was brushed aside. They briefly discussed Mary’s room and the location and it was quickly evident that Ruth and Mary would get on well.