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The 'Bombs to Butterflies' Interviews
The oral history element of the Bombs to Butterflies project involved recording interviews with twenty people for whom the Ruddington Depot site held a significant place in their life. The interviewees included former munitions workers, ancillary depot staff, those whose childhood was spent living in The Avenue, the auctioneer who conducted many of the sales of surplus vehicles and the Nottinghamshire County Council officer who managed the reclamation project. It was possible only to include mere snippets of these interviews in the published book and inevitably the selection of material was arbitrary and subjective. Listed below are the names and brief biographical details of all the interviewees. Click on the interviewee's name to links to the transcript of their interview.
Jack Abbott
Recollections of the post-war period when the depot was used for the sale of surplus vehicles and equipment from the army.
Jack Bagguley
After leaving school at 14, Jack Bagguley worked as an agricultural labourer on farmland which was to become the depot site.
Peter Bedford
Peter worked for Horspools at their satellite bakery set up within the depot site in the post-war years.
Tim Bloodworth
Tim Bloodworth grew up living on the dept site, initially on The Avenue and subsequently in Box 10.
Helena Giblenn
A child of the 1930s, Helena played on the farmland which was to form the Ruddington Depot site.
Robert Hanson
One of the senior figures a Walker, Walton and Hanson, Robert Hanson was instrumental in the auction sales held at Ruddington Depot.
George Holland
George started work on the depot in September 1943 as an Office Boy come Accounts Boy.
Harold Lowe & Dennis Wright
Harold Lowe and Dennis Wright are brothers-in-law. They worked on the depot in the 1960s, Dennis as a security guard and Harold on the storage and disposal side.
Ken Marriott
Ken, a long time Ruddington resident, recalled life in Ruddington in the run up to the Seconf World War.
Roy Peacock
Roy Peacock was born in the latter years of the war. He and his childhood friends treated the depot as a wonderful (if illegal) adventure playground.
Frank Kerry
An emplyee of Nottinghamshire County Council, Frank Kerry was in charge of the reclamation project which saw the depot site transmogrified to form the Country Park.
Wesley Scarrott
Wes remembered playing along the railway before the depot was build and later, as Clerk to Ruddington Parish Council, was involved in the public consultation as to the fate of the site.
Eileen Selby
Eileen Selby worked at the depot throughout its wartime existnece, intially for the main contractors, Sir Alexander Gibb, and later for the Ministry of Supply.
Bernard Slack
Bernard Slack was involved with the auctions at Ruddington depot in the immediate post war period.
Lilian Slack
Lilian Slack worked for the Aeronautical Inspection Department, overseeing quality contol for the bomb making operations at the depot.
Jessie Smith
Jessie Smith relates the touching story of the romance between her Aunt Meg and Danny Gallagher, both depot workers who married on 26th December 1942.
Margaret Stapleford
At the age of 19, Margaret Stapleford went to work as a bomb filler at Ruddington Depot.
Roslynd Wilson
Rosylynd Wilson grew up on the site and continued to live there when she subsequently obtained a job at the depot. In all, her involvement with the depot spanned a period of 20 years, from 1948 to 1968.
Interviews > Introduction