Morning everyone, have you ever wondered why during WW2 ambulance drivers could’t drive more than 16mph even if casualties were piling up? Or what a pail of water had to do with passing your ambulance driving test? Well, today I have all these answers and a few more as I welcome my pal and fellow saga author, Rosie Hendry to my page.
To get us all in the mood for her fabulous new novel Christmas with the East End Angels, which is set in a fictional London Auxiliary Ambulance Station in WW2, Rosie sat down with me and revealed several marvellous facts about the WW2 ambulance service I was thrilled to discover.
Did you know…
* Ambulance crews came from all walks of life and social classes – Cockney taxi drivers, concert pianists, cooks, debutantes, factory workers. Some worked as part-time volunteers, others as full-time paid jobs.
* Unlike the other civil defence services, the ambulance crews weren’t provided with uniforms until 1942, before that they had to wear their own clothes.
*They worked in shifts, eight hours from the beginning of the war, then switching to twelve hour and finally twenty-four-hour shifts.
*Each ambulance station had its own patch – Station 39 in Weymouth Mews not from the BBCs Broadcasting House, covered an area bordered by Marylebone Road, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street and Edgware Road, much a much more upmarket patch than the East End area covered by Station 75 in East End Angels series.
*Ambulance drivers had to observe a strict sixteen miles per hour speed limit – it seems ridiculously low but was to stop the tyres getting ruined on the glass strewn roads because replacement tyres were in short supply.
*Each crew member was known by their surname or a nickname – no one used their first names. Winnie, Frankie and Bella are all nicknames based on their surnames.
*Some ambulances were converted cars that had an ambulance body fitted onto the chassis. Even expensive cars like Rolls Royce’s that had been donated to the service because of petrol rationing were turned into ambulances. Imagine driving a Rolls Royce ambulance!
*Before joining the ambulance service drivers had to take a test to check their driving ability, they had to drive around with a full pail of water and not spill any to pass.
*Crew members had to take turns to do picket duty – like a guard duty at their station to stop anyone pilfering precious petrol.
*The last ambulance station to close down after the war was over was Station 39 in Weymouth Mews and there’s now a Blue Plaque there to commemorate the work of the ambulance crews.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Christmas with the East End Angels – It’s the most wonderful time of the year – and the East End Angels are working hard to keep Londoners safe.
Frankie is trying to keep everything together. She can count on the support of the East End Angels, even in the face of family trouble.
Winnie’s beloved husband, Mac, is putting himself at risk every day in the bomb disposal unit and she’s finding it hard while he’s away.
As Bella grows closer to Winnie’s brother, James, she’s becoming more confident. Is happiness just around the corner?
Christmas on the Home Front is a hard time with loved ones far away – but the women of the Auxiliary Ambulance service are making do and mending.
Rosie Hendry lives by the sea in Norfolk with her husband and two children. She is the author of the East End Angels series, which is an uplifting and heart-warming saga series following the lives and loves of Winnie, Frankie and Bella, who all work for the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service (LAAS) during the Blitz. Listening to her father’s tales of life during the Second World War sparked Rosie’s interest in this period and she loves researching further, searching out gems of real-life events which inspire her writing.
Keep up-to-date with Rosie by following her on Twitter (@hendry_rosie), becoming her friend on Facebook Rosie Hendry Books or visiting her website www.rosiehendry.com.
Fiona Ford Writer 