The History of Ruddington Depot
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Wartime Operations
Filling the shells
The filling factory was undoubtedly designed to fill shells as well as bombs, but no one who filled shells in Ruddington during the Second World War has been available to describe the experience, so it has to remain, not inappropriately, shrouded in secrecy.
Once inside the shop, the shell fillers, who were predominantly women, were totally isolated from the outside environment, so that they would know only the building they worked in and the operations carried out there. This was true of everyone who worked on the shop floor, on Clean Side. Walking to and fro between the changing room and their work place and to the canteen, they passed other buildings, but they had no windows, and doors were always closed. Many were entirely hidden by blast banks. No sight or sound emerged from them, so there were no clues available to passers-by about what was going on inside. The pervasive atmosphere of secrecy meant it was “not done to talk shop” in the canteen or on the journey to and from work. Inspectors, supervisors and managers knew only what happened in their particular section, so no one can fill the gap caused by the absence of shell-fillers in the history of the Depot.
The Story > Chapter 3 > Section 3.09