Jen Taylor
Jen belongs to: Cullercoats Community Centre
Jen was born in Gateshead in 1923. She joined the WRENS where she met her husband Bart Taylor. She lives in Cullercoats.
Jen was interviewed by Kylea Little on 1 March 2006. The interview took place at Cullercoats Community Centre and lasted 23 minutes and 44 seconds.
In the Wrens during World War Two
"I was sent first of all to Scotland by Loch Lomond to a place called Tullichewan Castle "
I was sent first of all to Scotland by Loch Lomond to a place called Tullichewan Castle and the officers lived in the castle and we were in this and huts at the bottom of the brae, as they call them in Scotland and I used to get up at four o’clock in the morning and go up the hill and like stoke the boilers so the officers could have their hot baths when they got up in the morning. I was there for about three months probationary period.
And then we were drafted down to Slough to do a training course to be a ship mechanic. And we used to go to the centre every day, and we were taught to paint, and woodwork, welding. Anything to do with landing craft- it was mostly landing craft we were working on eventually. And we did this course and we were drafted then to, where did we go first, now? Great Yarmouth- nobody there wanted to know.
They didn’t think WRENS, or women, should I put it that way, could do this type of work and part of the girls I was with went down to Tilbury, Gravesend and Tilbury, and we communicated with them, of course, and they asked the lieutenant if he could take any more Wrens and he said, “sure, send them all down,” so we all tripped down to Gravesend and Tilbury there.
We lived in Gravesend in a wrenery and then we used to travel over on the ferry into Tilbury everyday, 28th Shed, and we were working with the likes of Bart who was a carpenter, who having been sort of, been up to Iceland and Russia and places like that, I think they were sent there for a rest, more than anything. And all the landing craft used to come in, used to have to be repaired, and eventually Bart came there too, and we just started dating and that’s, one thing led to another, so eventually we got married.
Jen has 7 memories in the memorynet:
Jen's memories with a Women theme:
In the Wrens during World War Two
- Taking the children to the beach
- Raising funds for the RNLI
Jen's other memories:
Jen and Bart
Use this form to add your comment to the memorynet: