Packing Up The Office Equipment During The Air Raids

Betty’s Story

Betty Pearce was born in 1926, her full name is Eunice Elizabeth Pearce, whilst generally known as Betty some people still know her as Eunice. During 1940 at fourteen years of age she started work at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, in Filton House.

Her first job as a messenger girl was to take messages around the offices. There were three staircases, two ordinary ones and one special one, which was oval in shape, this was strictly reserved for VIP’s only, it led down to the main foyer of the building. A concierge guarded the bottom of these stairs and if you were caught using them a strict disciplinary would result. You can imagine how tempting it was to use this when you were running all around the building all day.

There was a also a VIP lift, though you had to be eighteen years old before you were allowed to use it. There was a goods lift but you had to be sixteen years of age before you were allowed to use this, for insurance purposes, so Betty was constantly running up and down the stairs all day, at least it kept her fit!

When Betty started work there were only twelve female secretaries. One of these was Miss Penny who worked for Verdon Smith. Betty used to go “in fear and trembling of these ladies”, no familiarity was allowed in those days, there was no such thing as using christian names.

The office staff had to wear Quaker blue (a light blue) overalls. Every fortnight you were provided with clean overalls from the laundry room. Girls had to wear stockings —thick lisle kept up with corsets, very hot and uncomfortable during the hot weather. The war shortages meant that girls had to put gravy browning on their legs and draw a black line with a Rimmel pencil up the back to mock a seamed stocking. It was much cooler for them during the summer months.

War had started the previous September 1939 and Betty remembers that just a year later she was in Castle Street in Broadmead, Bristol on Saturday October 21st 1940, when there was an air raid. It was very frightening, this was to be one of many raids on central Bristol at this time, and this was then the main shopping area for Bristolians. Betty’s family lived in Callicroft Road, Patchway during this time she explained “Often mother and I were the only people in a bunker in Callicroft Road during an air raid. Some people drove to Rudgeway at 9pm to escape the raids. Presumably they slept in their cars, providing they had petrol. Living so close to BAC meant that Betty’s family could hear the air raid warning very clearly.

As time went on, one of Betty’s tasks during these years was to keep records of equipment, MAP/Plant equipment. Bostick Jo had to glue the lables onto the equipment that Betty kept an inventory of. When the air raid sirens went off it meant that enemy aircraft were within a certain radius of Bristol (possibly 25 miles away) no one would take any notice, and they would carry on working. When they were within a certain radius of BAC they would play what was known as “The Bugles” which was the nickname they gave the music “Marching Through Georgia”, then everyone would rush to their air raid shelters. When the All Clear was sounded they played “Colonel Bogey”. Betty belives that the following Air Raid Shelter badge colours were correct.

White badge for office staff at Head Office, Blue Badge for aircraft staff at Filton, Green badge for Engine department, and Yellow badge for Rodney works.

Of course everytime “the Bugles” sounded Betty had to load a trolley with office equipment and records and take them down to the basement of the building for safety. Then when the all clear was heard “Colonel Bogey” was played over the tannoy. Though this could change again within half an hour and the whole performance would have to be repeated! The noise of the bombing was terrifying, yet still she battled on, like so many of them. Betty like a lot of people even today sometimes finds the sound of thunder reminds her of those years.

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Their was no union activity during the war years. The AEU (Associated Engineering Union) along with other unions outlawed strikes as it would have been against the “National Interest”. Attitudes were geared towards a combined force to help the war effort. Men worked 56 hours a week during the war years at the factory. Betty worked Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings for which she was paid overtime.

Betty married Peter Beardmore who worked in No 2 Workshop at the factory.

Like many other families in the area, the aircraft industry employed more then one member of the family, Betty’s father also worked at BAC until he retired in 1964.

After the war whilst some women became full time mothers and housewives, there was inevitably a baby boom after the war, many did carry on working. The demobbing process took a long time because men came back from all over the world, wherever they happened to be when peace was declared.

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