The Secret War Factory

This book is a story about ordinary people in extraordinary times and how 1,000 people came to a small country town to work at a factory where they made  secret equipment which was vital, and helped to win the war.

Very few of these people voluntarily worked at the factory. It was wartime and many regulations were in force controlling labour and where people worked. I was a victim of these regulations as I had completed my education but could not follow my chosen career but was directed to work in this country factory.

Where did these people who had been directed to work at the factory live? Some large Country Houses had been converted to hostels which accommated some, but the majority were billeted in houses in the town. A Billeting Officer visited every household and where room was available, then that household had to accommodate one or maybe two workers. Not all liked this idea!

Many hundreds of workers were directed to this small town with no social amenities, to work in a factory doing work not of their choosing and many living in accommodation where they were not wanted. Imagine this happening today!

Most of my readers have the good fortune never to have been in a war, because we have had in this country the longest unbroken peace since Worl War 2 ended.

Now because the way we work has changed so dramatically in the last 20 years, most of my readers will not have worked in a factory - an office or a call centre is much more likely. For these readers, I have tried to explain what war meant to ordinary people in 1940, and what life working in this factory was all about.

I was born in Oxfordshire in 1921 but grew up in Hereford where I went to the High School and then to a Technical College in Gloucester. World War 2 had started and the Control of Labour Regulations was in force. I was not allowed to follow my chosen career in Chemistry but was directed to the Secret War factory in Malmesbury. There I stayed for twelve years, married and had my two children..

I remained in the Electronics industry for the rest of my working life, mostly in the areas of Research and Development and several patents are attributed to me. Laterly I was Director of Engineering for a multinational company which involved me in extensive travel.

I have always held a keen interest in World War 2 electronics technology and have joined like minded people in the Defence Electronics History Society, I am also a trustee of the Communications and Electronics Museum Trust and a volunteer at Bletchley Park.