223130 Margaret Robinson "
" Hall Auxiliary Territorial Service 14th Bucks Platoon, D Coy. from:Newbiggin-by-the-Sea My mother Margaret (Peggy) Hall was born November, 1921 to Elizabeth and William Hall; the second of five girls. She left school at 14 years and entered domestic service. She was employed by a middle class Jewish Family (details unknown) in London at age 15, until the outbreak of war.
Like all able bodied women aged 18 upwards, she was obliged to register for essential war work. She was sent to work in a munitions factory somewhere in London. I don't know how long she was there, but when her teeth fell out at 17 years due to the hazardous conditions in the ROF, she was understandably traumatized. Without permission she took the train to Newcastle-upon-Tyne from where she made her own way back to the family home. Of course, what she had done was illegal and the authorities soon caught up with her. She was given the choice of returning to Munitions work or joining the A.T.S. She decided to join the A.T.S.
I know little about this time, but have a photograph of her regiment, 14th Bucks Platoon "D" Coy A.T.S., Bramley Group, taken in May 1944. By this time she had married my father (in 1943) who was in the R.A.F and stationed in Africa. On 25th of June 1945 my older sister was born, and my mother was released from her duties to become a full-time mother and housewife after the war. I believe that she worked in the kitchens during her time in the A.T.S.
I know that she shared accommodation with other women, some of whom were from Scotland. I don't know their names, but they all cried when they had to say good-bye. I wonder if there is anyone out there who might remember this time and can shed any more light on the working conditions in the munitions factories and the various duties of A.T.S. women during the war.
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