Norah Baldwin in the WRENs
Norah was born on 13 August 1923 in Hyde, Cheshire. Her father was injured in WWI. They were quite poor. Norah paid to go to night school to learn shorthand typing.
She was working for ICI in the Manchester area. She told her boss, "Don't say I have a reserved occupation: I'm joining the WRENs!" She couldn't join the Navy as a typist due to her lacking certification, so she worked in the stores for the WRENs. She did her training at Wesley College, Leeds. She was based on HMS Dolphin in Portsmouth. She was there for D-Day; the area was buzzing, but it was a ghost town on the morning of the invasion. It was weird how deathly quiet it was.
She documented the war with her camera, taking fantastic photographs of the life of a WREN through her own eyes. Her war service was the highlight of her life. She loved the social life of the WRENs, especially the dancing, balls, and time with friends.
Post-war, she worked as a typist at Middlesex Town Hall, and witnessed the royal wedding in 1947.
