ROF Stories:
Technical Training

Before the war Betty Harris worked for Halse's Wholesalers in Redland Street, Newport. She continued to work after her marriage in February 1940.
This is her story.

"I handed in my notice at Halse's because the company wouldn't grant me leave to visit my husband who had been evacuated from Dunkirk. I went to visit him on the south coast for a brief holiday but was then called up, aged 22, with the choice of either joining the forces or working in a factory.

I decided to work in a factory. I had one week's training as a fitter at the Newport Technical College in Clarence Place before starting at the ROF in autumn 1940. We worked two weeks of nights (8pm - 8am) and two weeks of days (8am - 8pm) with a one-hour meal break in the middle of each shift.

I worked in the Bofors gun section inspecting barrels. I stayed there until 9th October 1941 prior to my son being born in February 1942.

My sister’s brother-in-law, William Jordan, was tragically killed on ARP duty on the night of the Eveswell bombing. He had swapped shifts with a woman warden.

I was until recently still in touch with another ROF worker, William Duffield who now lives in Canada. William used to work in the tool room at Newport ROF."

Betty Routley (née Harris),
November 2005

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