Memories of the War In Liverpool

Elsie Holding 1926 - 2021

Elsie, the only child of James and Elsie Holding, spent her early years in Garston on the outskirts of Liverpool where her father had a coal business. In the 1930s they moved to Speke and they were there throughout the war. Young Elsie attended St Edmunds College (now Archbishop Blanche) in Liverpool.

At the beginning of the war she was evacuated due to the fact that her school was in the city centre, which was considered a risk. When Elsie got on the train she had no idea where she was going. It was a long and tedious journey due to having to stop to make way for troop and goods trains which had priority. The destination was Chester, a journey which would normally have taken 40 minutes. Classrooms were shared with the Queen's School, lessons being from 1 to 5pm. The mornings were spent in other venues - history in the Cathedral, divinity in a Church in Watergate Street. At her first billet Elsie happened to say that she had been doing housework at home so as a consequence she was given a lot of chores to do. This made her late for school and when the teachers were told the reason Elsie was moved elsewhere. Following a spate of burglaries near her second billet Elsie was locked out and as a result she was moved to a third house along with a younger girl. However, Elsie began to notice that the man of the house kept trying to get into the bathroom while she was there so she left and got herself home to Speke. Her mother was obviously pleased that she was safe, but very concerned about the younger girl who was still there. At that time there was no alternative than for Elsie's mother to get the train to Chester and fetch the girl back. After that Elsie remained at home for the rest of the war and went to school in Liverpool. Around this time one of her classmates was shipwrecked. She had been a passenger on the "City of Benares" which sunk whilst taking evacuees across the Atlantic. Fortunately the girl had been one of the survivors.

Elsie's mother got a job at the munitions factory in Risley, in the accounts department, as she had trained as a bookkeeper. She was a very good singer and whilst there sang several songs on Workers' Playtime when it was broadcast from the site. Her days were very long. It was a long shift, plus the travel time from Speke to Risley so she eventually got a job at the Rootes factory in Speke. Her Dad, James also worked at the Rootes factory building Blenheim and Wellington bombers which was a reserved occupation. He was also in the Home Guard relieving regular army gunners at the"Z" battery in Sefton Park and also captain of the local firewatchers. Young Elsie occasionally went out on patrol with him. She once commented about the shrapnel hitting her helmet only to realise it was actually her hair curlers knocking on the inside. James also reported home one night saying"the b***ers are machine gunning the busses!" talking of German planes in the area. He also built an Anderson shelter in the garden. On one occasion Elsie invited some new neighbours by the name of Rossiter to share the shelter. Young Elsie spent the night holding hands with the frightened young son called Lenny who became famous as Leonard Rossiter the actor.

When she turned 16 Elsie left school to become a telegraphist working for the Post Office (what was eventually to become BT). She began her training in the Littlewoods building in Old Hall Street, the post office building in Dale Street having been bombed. After a month of initial training she spent half of each day taking down messages for onward transmission. When the bomb fell on the office in Dale Street it not only destroyed the building but most of the equipment as well. This meant that for a couple of months there were no typewriters or indicator boards. Telegrams had to be written by hand and bells sounded when someone was on the line so the noise was horrendous. Unfortunately, she had to give up the job because when working a late shift she was unable to get home as there were no buses to Speke at that time of night.

After a false start at nursing in Liverpool, Elsie applied for a student nurse position at the Isolation Hospital in Birkenhead and was accepted for a two year training course which would lead to State Registration as a Fever Nurse.

Elsie had quite a social life during the latter part of the war. She loved dancing and going to shows at the Royal Court Theatre and to the cinema. Her parents entertained a number of service men of many nationalities during the war and it is a wonder that her mother managed to feed them with rationing being so strict. James used to meet them at the pub and invite them for Sunday tea. Elsie had a pen friend called Jean in New Zealand (and they continued to correspond until shortly before Elsie died). Her family had cause to be very grateful to Jean's parents. From time to time they would send food parcels with goodies, such as butter, sugar and dried fruits, which no doubt helped to feed the service men who visited.

In 1948 the family moved to Aylesbury and whilst working at the post office Elsie met Albert Willis. They married in 1955 and had one daughter. Whilst in hospital recovering from a broken pelvis, Elsie contracted Covid and died in 2021. A sad end to a life well-lived.

Source: The Life and Times of a Garston Nobody by Elsie Willis (nee Holding) published by Garston & District Historical Society 2014