My Nan in the Great War

[Landman]

I thought I would scribble down a few memories passed to me by my Nan. She was born in 1890 in Bolton. In WW1 she worked in armaments at Old Trafford and munitions at some point too. She put tanks together and used to say she was responsible for putting handles on one of the doors (hatches). She used to sell raffle tickets towards the war effort. She remembered too on one occasion lying on the floor of the factory with lights out as a Zeppelin passed overhead. She met my granddad in Kent. He had served time on the western front with the Devonshire Regiment and been invalided out in April 1915. He worked in munitions at Faversham's munitions works when 200 tons of TNT blew up in April 1916 killing 105 workers. My granddad was carried to the edge of a waterway suffering I was told, still with shell shock from France. The guy who carried him was his best mate and later became my dad's step dad after my granddad died of influenza in 1919. My granddad met my Nan who was working part-time in a hotel bar (in Faversham) and married her in 1917. They headed to Pendlebury. In WW2 she joined the Red Cross and kept my dad alive with parcels as he was a POW. It's a bit sketchy but thought I would try and get it down whilst I thought of it!

[marina]

What irony to be invalided out with shellshock and then get involved in a big explosion like that!

Marina