The History of Ruddington Depot
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Building The Depot
A wartime romance
Daniel Gallagher was an Irish labourer who came to Ruddington to work on the construction site. He went to the canteen, one of the earliest buildings erected, and there he met Eliza Goddard (always known as Meg) who was a canteen assistant. She was 44 and had recently lost her fiancée who was a Petty Officer on the HMS Crusader, the first ship to be sunk by the enemy.
Jessie Smith (nee Aitkin) witnessed the development of the relationship between her Aunt Meg and Danny:
“She came home and said to her mother that these Irishmen had come over to Ruddington to work and they were looking for digs. My grandmother, who had two maiden ladies in the house, my Aunt Meg and my Auntie Ethel, wasn’t too keen on taking a male lodger. Anyway, my Aunt Meg persuaded her to see Dan , whom she didn’t like. She said he hadn’t worn shoes before he came to England and he had not eaten at a table, so she was a bit concerned about him taking up with Meg. But she did take up with him and they got engaged against Grandma’s wishes.”
The wedding of Meg Goddard and Danny Gallagher, probably the first couple
who met whilst working at Ruddington depot and subsequently married.
Meg and Danny may have been seen as an unlikely pair, but they were determined
not to be parted. When the Depot was completed and the contractor moved the
workforce elsewhere, Danny remained in Ruddington. In return, Meg was received
into the Roman Catholic Church. Danny set up in business as a builder and
second-hand dealer. They married on Boxing Day 1942:
“It was quite a different wedding because instead of wearing white, the bride had a dress of gorgeous forget-me-not blue and her dress was of a material called cloqué with embroidery on it. My sister and I were bridesmaids and we wore pink and my other aunt wore a dusky pink.”
Meg assisted Danny in his business. She kept meticulous accounts and discreetly organised the workload while remaining tactfully in the background. Together they ran an unconventional, but successful, business until Danny’s death in 1981. He became a village character and was probably the first person who came to Ruddington to work at the Depot, married a local inhabitant, and spent the rest of his life in the village. Over the next forty years the pattern was repeated many times and the local community was enriched and diversified by those who came, sometimes from overseas and often against their will, to “work on the site”.
The Story > Chapter 2 > Section 2.05