NextBack'It was wartime and we had to work like maniacs. We started at 7.30 in the morning and didn't finish until 5 or 7 at night and even on a Saturday we worked until 5 pm. After that we didn't go home to rest we had our war duties. I was in the Enfield Home Guard with night duty a couple of times a week. Then I had to attend innumerable drills and exercises on, for example the art of throwing a hand grenade.
'We took it very seriously but it was a bit of a Dad's army really. When we were on manoeuvres over Batchley fields you would occasionally see a man drop to his knees, that was because he was picking a mushroom. On night duty we manned the three main gates in pairs in four hour shifts. One chap used to put five bullets in his rifle and lock himself in a hut. He said that he wasn't going to walk about all night'' Eddie Baker was one of Royal Enfield's senior managers. A contingent of Redditch workers, including Eddie as General Manager, were transferred to Westwood near Bath in order to create the underground factory there,”
“At the Bath underground factory the following incidents took place..”
“I was persuaded to join (the home guard) by being given a position of authority over the first aid ambulance, as I had had some experience in this field. I would have thought twice about taking the post if I had known what I was letting myself in for; it was later decided that lectures on venereal diseases came under this umbrella. Gilbert Smith, Major Smith's brother and Chief Engineer, came to me and said that the powers-
