My mother, who will be 95 in December, worked as a tack welder in Vickers during WW2. Called Alma Probert (nee Fearon), she was born 27/12/1923. She was 6th of 7 children and was brought up in the Salthouse area. She started work aged 14 as an errand girl at Woodalls butchers on Smeaton Street and worked there until she went into Vickers after the war started.
She had 4 sisters and 2 brothers, all of whom have passed away. One of her sisters worked in the Naffi(?) which I think was a canteen for the workers. They had some fun times even though war was on, probably as they didn’t know what tomorrow would bring.
At one time she was courted by an American Henry Dunbar who was over here with the troops but that fizzled out when he wanted her to move to the USA.
She struggles to remember things now. I remember her saying she worked with a guy called Maurice Hughes when she was welding.
Contributed by Sandra Johnson
Barrow's Shipyard Women WWII 