War production

“I was working at A Poole & Sons who were using the old British Mills factory at the bottom of Prospect Hill. Everyone at Poole's was beavering away on war work, and one order which kept us all busy was producing 500 pairs of air-crew goggles each week and every single bit on them was brass. We didn't fit the glass or straps. Those operations were carried out elsewhere.”

“One-day workmen arrived and fix panels of red, amber and green lights inside the factory on the walls. When the air-raid siren sounded the 'Alert' (which it often did), the amber one lit up, and when the 'All Clear’ sounded, amber switched off and green came on. If enemy aircraft were in the vicinity, red lit up and we were supposed to make our way to a safer place, but that only happened once.”

'"I remember Britannia Batteries setting on fire. Nobody ever found out why. lt was just after the All Clear had gone as there were no enemy aircraft over Redditch. The factory was gutted.”

Click to enlarge