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The 'Bombs to Butterflies' Interviews
Interviewees: Mrs Margaret Stapleford
Interviewers: Eddie & Ivy Barber
Date of Interview: 19.06.99
For part of the interview Mrs. Stapleford’s son Frank was present and added comments.
General conversation for introduction:- Information about Mrs. Stapleford’s family – Maiden name Blood. Grandfather the village postman – Father grocery manager of the Ruddington Co-op, he was very well known in the village. Father’s photograph is in the archives and also in the Pavilion on the playing fields – he was there when the Pavilion was first opened - it wasn’t like it is now it was just a little wooden hut. .
What we are trying to do is to write up a history of the Country Park and part of that history will relate to the M.O.D. and we understand you worked for the M.O.D. on the Ruddington site?
During the war my mother was very protective of me - I was her youngest child and really I wanted to join the Forces but she said “No, No, No, you’ll get killed” (laughter) but I was 19 and I had to do some form of war work or go in the Forces and that’s how I came to be ….. and she said “go on to the M.O.D”. – didn’t realise that was as dangerous.
Was it dangerous then?
Well, er you know, you didn’t give it a second thought about it being dangerous and you just got on with the job. There weren’t many Ruddington people work there.
Ah, this is one of the things we wondered.
They came by train from old Victoria Station, ya know, to Ruddington. The train picked up at Burton Joyce and there was a station on the M.O.D. The train run right in bringing the workers.
So you get many different people there?
Yes
When did you start there?
I’d be about 19. The war had been on a little while, I thought I’d try Ransome and Marles first, but I couldn’t get on with that and then …
Did you apply then rather than be conscripted?
Yes ..er ..yes, because I knew I would be conscripted.. Then I decided to go and work on a farm in the village, you know, but ..er ..I couldn’t bear the cows (laughter) so I really was no good at farming. Well, my friend who lived at Bunny she said “if you go on a farm in yur village you’ll join the Land Army and they’ll let you stay” – she was wonderful on the farm.- but I wasn’t. Then I thought well, that’s the only place I could go..
What jobs did you have to go on – did they allocate a job to you?
Well when you first went you were sort of streamed on to a shop were the shells came in and you cleaned them, and that was sort of called the dirty side, then after a little while you were put on to what they called a clean side and you had to go into er a changing room and change down to your underwear and shoes and put on special clothing which was white trousers, jacket and a white turban, remove all hair grips and what have you - you were sort of searched for matches and things like that, and then you stepped over on to what they called the clean side and it was really clean it was like avenues and the shops were spread out and they were behind banks, people used to think they were underground, but they weren’t, - they were big banks and the shops were behind, the different shops, work shops, were behind these big banks .
Like bunkers – were they bunkers?
No they wasn’t - they were all behind these big banks.
They were protective for if anything happened?
Yes, yes, so I was sent into the filling shop.
What did that involve?
Well that involved the women, the girls, - we were girls then, (laughter) the shells were put into cages, there was like a conveyor belt down the middle, and there was like a platform through the (middle?) along each side and the men, I think there were about two men and about six shells on each platform and there were two girls and the girls had to fill the bottom of the shell, the nose part, with what they called the flap jack, black, like tar, pack it in and then come along with cans (about nine inches high) of TNT, and pour that in and then the explosive came along on the conveyor belt and it was quite hot - all steaming - it tasted horrible … er .. but that they it put into the shells and packed them down with like a little mallet and when they’d done that the girls went back and did the same sort of things with the top of the shell with the TNT and when it was set the plate was screwed on and a crane came along and it was hoisted off and taken out for A.I.D. inspection to see whether it – what weight it was - and it was wheeled to another shop ready for …..
These were shells, were they? …… were there any bombs?
In the filling shop it was the bombs …….. that was put in a cage, yes it was a bomb actually, yes, yes.
But did you do shells and the bombs?
No. In the filling shop we did just the bombs.
Elsewhere they did the shells?
Em. I couldn’t remember I’m calling the bombs the shells. You see it was just bombs.
Did you feel frightened at all?
No it didn’t sort of enter your head. ……….. But your skin went yellow …… and your hair – you were supposed to have it all bunched under these turbans – you know – we girls used to leave a little bunch out ……… and er it went yellow.
Did they do anything about that – were they concerned about that?
Da yu know we were talking about that the other day and no, they didn’t really.. In the village shop the atmosphere and the taste … ..it got lost…..
It was in the air all the time? ………. Did you wear masks?
You were supposed to wear the masks but er more often than not the people didn’t bother and er the taste all over.
Did you wear overalls or uniforms? …… Did you wear goggles or boots?
No, no, we wore the special shoes, they were like a sand shoe, anything that didn’t make a spark.
Did you wear barrier cream to protect you?
No.
You had no kind of protection at all then?
No.
They wouldn’t get away with it these days, would they?
You wouldn’t ... really it’s surprising with that atmosphere that yer health wasn’t…
Yes, because you look a very fit lady?
Yes.
Do you mind me asking this – how much did you earn?
Oh, we thought it was really good money - it was about ten pounds a week and that was really good ……… And we had to work twelve hour shifts which involved mornings and nights.
Did you have breaks in between – like three or four days off?
No, no, we didn’t have a break., we had a weekend off.
When you was working on that section did you say there were two women and two men working?
There was about two men on each side of the line and the platform and there was two women...
How many worked altogether in the filling shop?
I really can’t remember now …… 2, 4, 6 and then there was what they called the A.I.T. people in the inspecting – the testing.
Were there any other workshops?
There was different workshops, there was the cleaning shop, there was a shop where they called it nitrate – I think that was some form of explosive powder, and er that was sort of er a small shop, where it was done in a machine and it came out in white powdery into a barrow - and the women pushed it to the filling shop - where I suppose it was put with the explosives – it would be part of the mixture.
Was security very good - remember you said when you arrived you was checked for matches and things like that?
Yes, matches and hair grips.
Was there any secrecy thing - did you sign the Secrecy Act?
No, we didn’t ….. You could talk about it when you came out …. You found you didn’t talk much about it - you just accepted it – it was a job to be done. Occasionally people used to say they hated it – it wasn’t enjoyable it was a thing that you did.
Was there a good comradeship between you?
Yes, quite good, there was a nice canteen where you had to go for your liquids. When you were on your shift you didn’t get a cup of coffee or tea in the filling shop - you had a break of about ten minutes.
If you went away to the canteen, how long were your breaks then?
We had about an hour... (General conversation about length of shifts which were tiring and quite boring)...
Did you have to change before eating?
No, no, because the canteen was on what they called the clean side.
Did you have to go and wash your hands?
That was optional.
At the end of the day when you finished was there anywhere you could have a wash down/shower?
No, didn’t have showers (laughter – comment didn’t have Showers!)….. Just washed your hands basically, get changed back into your own clothes.
People travelled in and out by train mostly, apart from if they happened to live in the village themselves?
That’s right they came in by train, yes.
Was there any arrangements made for the laundering of your overalls, or did you have to do them yourselves?
No, no we didn’t have to do them – they were supplied.
General conversation about maps and the sighting of the various buildings and areas.) Filling shop dead centre. Some of the managers and security people lived in bungalows on the site. Number 2 dirty side. Police on duty –pass to get through – in/out. Clean side - filling shop, nitrate shop. Pellet shop – really yellow - shop where the bombs went after being filled. Yellow didn’t wash off. Didn’t know exactly what the pellet shop was.
Can you recall any emergencies?
No, except when the sirens went. Shelters on the site, but
they usually went to the canteen. Social Club –Victory House. On the
perimeter – . House still there.. nr. Elms Park/Jitty running to Loughborough
Rd. Bungalow on Asher Lane think that belongs to M.O.D. well known in the
village.
The Green you came in from the Green - this was the dirty side . Along here
was shops where the bombs came in when they were being filled - the filling
shop was dead centre. There were all sort of clean made paths. This was the
Station came along here where the Bombs came in and they were dirty side,
if you worked there you didn’t have to change. It was only when you
worked on the clean side you had to change into special clothing.
Why was it called dirty side/clean side?
I think it was because it was really clean on the clean side – there was grass roads, grass verges, grass banks with buildings behind them …..
Where would the paths be then?
They’d be all round – they were clean paths then with banks. It had to be really clean, that was the reason for getting changed.
Where would the canteen be? Did people live on the site, security people?
They lived in where you went into the Green – bungalows where some of the staff managers and security used to live. Round the perimeter there was a club house – bungalows round the perimeter where people lived.
Any kind of Security?
Yes there was police on duty – you had a pass to get in. Worked behind the banks – these (photos) were taken when everything was over grown after it was closed down, but it looks to me this probably was where you got changed and came out onto the clean side but it wasn’t like that the grass was really clean and mowed but there was a bank there and the shops were behind them.
How many workshops would there be on the clean side – have you any idea?
There was the Filling Shop and what they called the Nitrate , where they made the nitrate and then further up there was what they called pellets, now I’m not quite sure, now if you worked in the pellet dept. you did go really, really yellow ...and that was away from the filling shop nowhere near it and then there was a shop on the clean side where the bombs when they were filled they went straight for transportation
This yellow, did it wash off?
No it didn’t wash off it sort of wore off ….. Now if you worked in the pellets and I’m not quite sure what they did with the pellets, whether they went into the bomb … I’m not quite sure about that, but you were more yellow
Interviews > Interview with Margaret Stapleford