Z1205/222

Female. Memories of airships at Cardington in the 1920s. b. 29.09.1917 SIDE A (00 mins)Mother from Hampshire, Father from Grantham. Parents moved from Bedford to Shortstown when she was 2 ½ yrs. Father was a test engineer for Shorts brothers building airships at Cardington hangars. Shortstown was an estate of workers with Shorts only. Engines were tested for 12 or 24 hours at a time, preceded by a hooter signal. (05 mins)Layout of housing estate. Managers lived in the Crescent. Worker's children attended either Cotton End School or Cardington School. Children allowed out of school to view the launching of airships from the hangar. Father helped build the R38 airship. She remembers the second airship shed being built ready for the R101. The events of the night before the last fateful flight of the R101: farewell meal at the Swan Hotel. The two crew were in their new uniforms. (10 mins)Premonitions about the flight. Difficult takeoff and bad weather. The next day, the news of the crash in France arrived and the village was told by word of mouth. Wives could be heard screaming, when their husband's death was confirmed. Small social club in village in long narrow hut. (15 mins)Amateur concert parties touring village halls providing variety entertainment. Attended Methodist chapel and Sunday School. (20 mins)There was no public house in Shortstown but alcoholic drinks at the social club. A small children's choir entered the Eisteddfod in Bedford and learned to do song and dance routines.. After the airship disaster, Short Brothers returned to Ireland and all the workers were laid off. Her father got a job wit W.H.Allen engineering factory in Bedford and, later, at Vauxhall's in Luton. Huts were built at Shortstown ready for the camp where men were processed when being recruited for the army (during the Second World War). (25 mins)Pre-war, there were only two telephones on the village: one at the Camp gates and the other at top of the hill at Shortstown. Remembers sheep being driven along the roads to Bedford market. Horses and carts. Three farms in Old Harrowden. Horse-drawn milk-float. Description of local fields. (30 mins)Local children's sports days in a meadow. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Ayres Farm, Minnie's Farm, Hall's Farm. When an airship was launched all the men in the village went out to hold on to the guide ropes. Also remembers a visit from the Zeppelin - German airship. (05 mins)It was able to come down and land by the sheds instead of mooring at a mast, like the British airships. She married when she was 20, in 1937. Shortstown had a football club during the war. Camp dances in the large building at the front, organised by Squadron Leader Harris. Bands such as the Squadronaires played there and Gracie Fields sang there once. Remembers Glen Miller's band playing at the Corn Exchange during the war. (10 mins)Humorous RAF "Gang" shows making fun of officers. Learned to do old time modern sequence dancing from when she was 12. She met her husband at a dance. When courting, they used to walk for miles, go to dances in Bedford at the Dujohn, Corn Exchange, Crofton Rooms and Assembly Rooms, and the cinemas in Bedford. Midnight bus service back to Shortstown. Lennox-Boyd MP for Bedford fought for social housing in Elstow for those coming out of the armed forces. (15 mins)Low pay of those in armed forces. Husband died after his second heart attack. During the Second World War, 3 bombs dropped in Bedford area - one on W.H.Allens, one near Bedford Railway Station and one near the railway bridge (now site of Post Office Collection Point). One small "doodlebug" bomb dropped in the village of Cardington. (20 mins)Anderson air raid shelter in the garden. There was one shop at Shortstown through the main gates of the camp. General store that sold a wide variety of items. During the war, when people invited you for tea, they asked you to bring your own tea and sugar, because it was rationed. Gas mask regulations. Blackout regulations. Shortages and rationing. (25 mins)Black market (illegal trading) during the war. Husband was away fighting in and sent her a lemon from Tel Aviv. She raffled it at the camp dance. Husbands were gone for years during the war. She wrote to hers every day by cheap forces air mail. They had a secret code of "kisses" which would indicate where he was writing from, as a way around the censorship of forces mail. (30 mins)Husband rescue story from Dunkirk (32 mins)End of Side B.CONTINUED ON CS222C2 SIDE A (00 mins)On receiving a postcard from her husband that he was at Blandford Camp, she set off by train to try to find him. Wartime travel restrictions. Successfully found him, for brief reunion before he moved on. (10 mins)End of Side A.END OF INTERVIEW Original Interview 70 mins.

1 April 2003

From: 1915 To: 2003

item

Short Brothers Limited,
Allen,
Vauxhall

Airship Industries Ltd, engineer, Cotton End School, Cardington School, R38, R101, Swan Hotel, Methodist chapels, Sunday Schools, DEATH, aircraft worker, World War Two, markets, CARDINGTON, Shortstown, Hampshire, Grantham, France, Eastcotts Harrowden