Remembering the women of the West Midlands who helped defeat Hitler
They were women who did their bit to help win the war.
Some went into uniform in women's branches of the armed services – the WAAFs, the Wrens, and the ATS – while others worked the land or toiled in the factories.
This is Women's History Month and before it passes let's give a nod of appreciation by dipping into our archives and putting in the spotlight just a handful of those who served in the West Midlands in a variety of ways.
For instance, turn back the clock to 1941 and young women employed by the Henry Meadows factory at Fallings Park in Wolverhampton were throwing themselves into tasks once traditionally associated with men.
Meadows, an important maker of engines during the war, including for tanks, had teamed up with an associated company, a famous boat-building concern in the south of England, to establish a school to train young women about to enter the companies' respective engineering and boat building workshops.
Formerly an extensive estate, the school was in a glorious part of Hampshire and those sent there had an excellent start in their new jobs of helping in the war effort.
