Highs, Lows and YTS.

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After completing all the necessary application procedures, including an aptitude test which surprisingly identified a hidden talent for technical things, my plan to join up as a MT Driver (because I would get to take my driving test)went out the window when the Chief Petty Officer decided the WRNS needed me as an Aircraft Engineering Mechanic - or WAEM as we were known. Have to admit it had a lovely ring to it when I went home to tell my parents and friends what I was going to be doing.

"Hello, what do you do for a living?"

"Oh I'm a Naval Aircraft Engineering Mechanic"

See what I mean? Especially when you're a seventeen year old blonde girl!

Then it all went pear shaped. I received a letter telling me I had passed the recruitment process for WAEM but unfortunately there were no places available at present and if in 6 months time I still wished to continue then I should contact the careers office. My world crashed. I was terribly disappointed. I'd expected that I'd wait a while but the letter indicated that it could be months not weeks.

My parents suggested that I went to the Job Centre to see what I could do with myself while waiting. Although we weren't hard up, they felt I ought to be doing something in the meantime. It was suggested that I join the YTS (Youth Training Scheme) which involved a 4 day work placement and a day doing other things to help us gain other skills. Unlike the others on the programme I had no intention of looking for a proper job, I was just waiting for mine to start.



Looking back I really enjoyed my time on the YTS. I got on well with everyone especially a lad called Austin - I thought his name was so cool! I got a work placement in Woolworths on the record counter helping a girl about to go on maternity leave. Fortunately she had to leave earlier than expected so I was left to run the department on my own. Until one day, I received another letter

Dear Miss Wilkes,
We are pleased to inform you that you are required to attend WRNS Basic Training School HMS Dauntless, Burghfield, Berkshire at 12.00 on July 1st 1981.




I read it over and over. I was joining up in 5 weeks time! I was so excited I couldn't sleep. A million thoughts flew through my head. It was like a hundred Christmasses all at once.




Five weeks passed, I said goodbye to Woolworths, Austin my friends and my boyfriend, who by now was distraught. He begged me not to join up, even bought me an engagement ring. Nothing was going to stop me though. I tried to explain how I felt but he didnt understand.




July 1st arrived. An excited, slightly nervous seventeen year old set off with her parents to Reading, Berkshire. I was to meet everyone outside the station and get transported to HMS Dauntless from there. On arrival I saw a few other young girls standing together. Mum and Dad suggested we went for a sandwich and drink as there was still a while to wait. I agreed but was too nervous to eat or drink anything. I just wanted to get over there and meet my fellow Wrens.




11.50, and time to say goodbye to my parents. Mum hugged me and gave me the usual advice, behave, do as you're told, say thank-you, clean your teeth etc etc. Dad was not one for many words, but told me he was very proud of me and if I didn't like it then there was always a home for me. He told me he loved me. I cried. That was the one and only time I remember my Dad saying that to me.




A dark blue bus with Royal Navy in white letters down the side pulled up. A very smart woman in uniform got off. She was our Petty Officer (PO Wren) throughout basic training. We were told to line up alongside the bus where the driver took our one suitcase and put it into the storage. We then handed our letter to POWren and got on the bus. All very formal. I sat next to the window and watched my parents wave goodbye as the bus pulled away.




The half hour journey was a blur. There were about 30 young teenage girls, all were nervous, excited and strangers. Introductions to those closest took place and early friendships began. None of us knew what to expect next. It was like jumping over a cliff into a void, scary but exhilarating.




And then we turned a corner and saw HMS Dauntless. My immediate thought was 'The Great Escape'. because the long rows of wooden huts could have been taken straight from a wartime concentration camp. I wasn't expecting a luxury hotel, but I wasn't expecting that either.




My stomach churned, the bus fell silent.




"Welcome to the Royal Navy girls - this is HMS Dauntless, your first ship!"

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