CHAPTER SIX – TOC H AND THE AUXILIARY FIRE SERVICE
TOC H
This was started in Codsall after the First World War. One or two of the people who had been in the War involved others who they thought would be interested. Mr Trench asked me if I would join. Jack Barley was also in the group. We were just people interested in doing anything we could to clear up the village after the war, for instance we spent a lot of time clearing up the Churchyard. There were two groups in Codsall, one at Dam Mill and another at Palmers Cross. We met in Trench’s garden in Lansdowne Avenue. He had a hut and we met in there. Then Hilda and I had a hut in our garden in Elliotts Lane so Number 2 group met there, because the numbers had grown so much that we needed to split up. We would do anything for anybody.
THE AUXILIARY FIRE SERVICE
I joined the AFS after the TOC H appealed to its members to join voluntary organisations concerned with civilian war-time activities. When the Fire Service first started we had a place in the Square, in a two-storey garage near the Mount. We had to go into Wolverhampton for training. There was Mr Goodyear and Mr Snape (he lived at the back of the Church). We had to go to about 12 training sessions at the Wolverhampton fire station.
On the outbreak of war, Mr James, at the Terrace in Oaken, provided us with a cottage which stood in the yard of the house. The six of us slept there. A lot of the women got together and decided on a rota for preparing our meals. They used to bring them up to us and we warmed them up on the cooker. The ladies also manned the telephone, did emergency driving, surveyed the fire-hydrants and other work of this nature. Mr James provided us with a vintage Bentley to pull our pump. However the Bentley was difficult to start – under the bonnet there was a double row of little cups and taps, and each one had to be primed with petrol before the vehicle could be started. We were up there when they dropped the bombs near Boulton Paul's. We were actually in the yard when the plane came over. We could see it was a German plane and we thought it might be aiming for Boulton Paul's so we jumped in the tender and went straight to the factory.
The bombs dropped at the back and we were first on the scene. To start with we hadn't a map. I was asked to make one, so I had to make a map in sections showing all the hydrants and anything else of importance. It worked very well. The first time we were called out was when the Blitz was on. We had to go to Bordesley, then to Birmingham and then to Manchester.
They kept us three to four days in Manchester whilst the Blitz was in operation. We were sent to
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