August 1939

 

August 1939

Stubleys: Along with most of the other woollen mills in the town; closed for the last weekin August. May Arthur and Harry went to Blackpool they stayed in >>>> street along with Nora (May's sister) and her friends Gladys Stephenson from the mill and Enid Cuthbertson and fiancée Joe who was on leave from the Fleet Air Arm, Joe was transferring to a flying school on his return.

They all were making the most of the time off; there was an air of foreboding about what the future would hold for them; what would Mr Hitler do was the big question. So they put every effort to enjoy life while they could.

Day time was spent on the sands keeping Harry engaged, in the evenings the girls went of to the Tower Ballroom

NORA: Was now eighteen. She had left school at fourteen and worked alongside Mary in Stubleys burling and mending department

 

September 3rd 1939, it was a warm night and the front door was open, with the little gate which Arthur had fashioned to prevent Harry from toddling out into the street, with another for the top of the cellar steps and one to prevent him from climbing up the bedroom stairs

 

Two men rode up Oxford Road on bicycles; Ringing hand bells and shouting out something which little Harry did not understand.

Harry asked May what was happening. May replied that war had been declared.

What is war asked Harry. Nothing to bother you was May's answer.

But little Harry’s life was due to change

Within days Stubeys announced that a huge contract had been awarded to supply cloth to the Ministry of Defence; which would require changes to work patterns.

Initially 6 looms were to be re-threaded as they became available to produce uniform material for the three services. Just a single colour and plain weave using heavier and coarser yarn; they would need to run 24 hour each day in order to meet the demands;

The simplicity of the weave one lady would be able to operate all six looms, they would run 24 hours a day including weekends; so volunteers were wanted initially for four girls were needed to operate the new system; eventually more would be required.

Also the loom tuners and other staff .

Work began that day to re-thread the first loom; The yarn preparation was also begun Yarn was made heavier; in the spinners dyers prepared three vats of dye (Navy, Khaki, Air Force Blue) for the three services.

 

The volunteer weaves began running the six looms beginning with the one in khaki, they also took over the running of the five adjacent looms, which would be converted as the existing warp yarn was finished.

This was the advantage that Stubley had over the competition with every process being carried out in the one establishment they could make all the changes to smoothly convert operations.

Arthur was now working longer days doing twelve hour shifts.

 

Reviews

[JayG]

One of the problems with presenting a story as a series of journal entries is the temptation to sketch in details as an outline, giving a history book feel. So in the end, it's a fairly detailed history of a fictional character. And how is that an improvement of a real history book, so far as reader's desire to own it?

In this, the unknown writer is dispassionately recording events in the format, "Here's the setting. And in it, this happened and here's how they felt...then that happened...and after that..." Informative? Sure. Entertaining? How entertaining is a report/chronicle/history? It's a nonfiction presentation of facts. How entertaining CAN it be?

Because of the high-level overview, the reader has been given no reason to care about the multiplicity of people mentioned. Are we entertained by being informed that a child we known nothing about asked a parent, "What is war?" and being told they don't need to know?

Such a journal approach can, and has been successful, but you need to expand it and tighten the focus. Story lives in emotional details, in the heart, desires, needs, and frustrations—in the struggle—of the protagonist. Without that, the reader has no need to identify with the people in the story, and no need to care what will happen next. But readers WANT to care about those in the story. They want a reason that's more pressing than inertia to keep turning pages. They feed on the uncertainty and the protagonist's struggle to be in control of their life. Were you reading a horror story, do you want to learn that the protagonist is frightened? Or would you hope the author makes YOU afraid to turn out the lights?

See what I mean? Your story must stir emotion in the reader, not make them nod and say, "Uh-huh...I see."

So make it personal. Don't have them talk of bombing, make them endure and survive one. Make them (and the reader) worry about personal survival. Don't talk about heroism, demonstrate self-sacrifice to protect others. Show the privation, and the struggle that takes place in the moment that one character—the protagonist—calls "now." In short, don't tell the reader a story, make them live that story in real-time, moment-by-moment, as-the-character. Story, in other words, not history.

It might pay to do a bit of digging into the tricks of the trade of the fiction-writer. Like any other field, it's filled with tricks-of-the-trade and specialized knowledge. It's a very different approach from that we learned in our school days, and makes the job a lot easier.

Hang in there, and keep on writing.

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/

[Wild Rose]

Thank you so much for a long but very informative review > AS na engineer you must know where I am from
The writing so far is from information recived through cusins (all that is left to pass on info)
Now I am in the picture

[emmajoy]

And that's how it must have been all over the UK. Changes of work content within a company's day-to-day, reliant on need, reliant on everything, even the unknown. For me, there are facts that one needs to know. I studied political and cultural history, learned this and that fact about certain times and still find details - such as you've included here, as a necessity if one wants to understand. Quickly scanned the long and interesting review below (a thing i rarely do) and have to say at this juncture that I believe the writer has laid out facts as guidance and reference, rather than make such a time into a melodrama. Perhaps. My opinion, and - have sincere respect for other' people's.

[Wild Rose]

Thank you Emma. I wrote this before joining WC
I have intentions to rewrite the early writings This one in particular > Additions to register - ration books (Possibly the allowance of meat butter etc) I know there wasn't much - learned to scrap the 'empty' jam jar to get out at least one helping
School diners (free to all)

[emmajoy]

Started in the wrong places so have gone to start.. am now hooked! Modern history, my thing. Thoroughly caught up in your words. x

[Wild Rose]

Its not you its me posting in the wrong order

[emmajoy]

.. I'll take the chapters from the start and work on, anyway... :)