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                    The Three Page Girls, Site 74, No.937 Squadron 

        937 Squadron was formed in January 1939. 44 Bridge Street , in Newcastle Town was chosen as Headquarters. In November 1939 it had 23

 W.A.A.F. and 479 airmen. The W.A.A.F. based there were mainly involved in secretarial work. 937 Squadron operations were based at a number

 of flights and sites at Scotswood, Swalwell, Dunston and Gateshead . 

There were 10 balloon sites: Monty Pit, Scotswood; White City, Scotswood Bridge; 

Swalwell Cricket Club site; Crowley, Dunston, Power Station, Dunston; and Windmill Hills, Gateshead.

The White City , Old Scotswood Chain Bridge site was based in the car park of the White City Dog Track. 

                                  

                                                                     Old Scotswood Chain Bridge

 By August 31st 1940 the last W.A.A.F., Miss Hargreaves left to take up a commission in the W.A.A.F., in the Codes & Cyphers Branch. On 5th June 

1940 all trades in the Squadron were reviewed by the Trade & Test Board for skills they might have that  could be used in the forthcoming round

of redundancies.

Not much W.A.A.F. activity took place until 1942.

          On 6th June 1942 Squadron Leader Steven went around the sites of "A" Squadron with the Commanding Officer and Flight Officer Landreth

 visited, "Underfell", the new W.A.A.F. Headquarters.

          On 30th July 1942 the first of six W.A.A.F. arrived at the Squadron. They took over sites Nos. 64,54,50,62,57 and 61 all in "A" Flight under  

Flight Commander  F/Lt C.E. Lamble. On the 31st July 1942 the Commanding Officer spoke to each and every airwoman and addressed each

separate crew.

          On 6th August 1942 Wing Commander Allen S.M.O. No. 34 Group with Squadron Leader Duthie visited Westmorland House, Site 54 with

 W.A.A.F.  and visited site 4 with R.A.F. and was well pleased with what he saw in the Squadron. A further six sites were taken over by W.A.A.F.

 Nos. 75, 58, 15.10, 6 and 5.

          On 7th August 1942, Squadron Commander Flight Lieutenant visited all sites taken over by W.A.A.F. to give them a short address of

 welcome.

          On 24th August 1942 Air Commodore P.L. Lincoln D.S.O., M.C., and Group Captain Horne (Kenneth Horne of later radio fame!) accompanied

by Squadron Leader Stevens visited sites 62,61,64, 57 and 54 now taken over by W.A.A.F. for the last two weeks. A dress rehearsal for the visit 

had taken place the day before and had raised doubts in the mind of the Commanding Officer of the ability of the W.A.A.F.'s. However, on the day

 the W.A.A.F.'s came through with considerable success and it was considered a harbinger that W.A.A.F. crews will maintain the best traditions of 

the Squadron. 

          On 27th August 1942 a further three W.A.A.F. crews arrived at the Squadron.

          On the 1st September 1942 the first Trade & Test Board for many of the W.A.A.F. in the Squadron was held.

On the 13th September 1942 Squadron Leader (Miss Clark) Medical Officer from Command toured the Squadron and addressed many of the W.A.A.F.

On the 27th September 1942 The Squadron Commander addressed all W.A.A.F. officers with Flight Commanders in attendance.

          On the 14th October 1942 Air Officer Commanding No.34 Group inspected the Squadron and visited 21 W.A.A.F. sites and completed his

 visit to all 27 sites now staffed by W.A.A.F.

          On the 18th October 1942 a broadcast was made to all W.A.A.F. sites being a review of a week crowded with incidents and the lessons to

 be learnt from them.

          On 20th October 1942 Squadron Officers Swatton and Pritchard visited the Squadron area and decided that 37/21 was suitable for W.A.A.F.

 occupation. This meant that 39 out of 40 sites were suitable for W.A.A.F.

          On the 3rd November 1942 the plans for the W.A.A.F. in the event of a German invasion were discussed.

On the 7th November 1942 the W.A.A.F. Hostel at "Underfell" for Officers and other ranks of the Squadron was occupied.

On 10th November 1942 it was discussed how the W.A.A.F. would be utilised for cooking and First Aid in the event of  German invasion. 

On 28th November Wind Commander Tiarks, Barrage Inspection Officer from Balloon Command visited 12 sites and inspected practical drill by 

the W.A.A.F. crews.

          On the 4th December 1942 Squadron Leader Jewell visited "D" Flight and saw games and P.T. being carried out by crews on sites 37/6 and

 37/2. 

This was repeated for sites 37/54 and 37/57 of "A" Flight, their ability was excellent.

          On 16th December 1942 Sister Dawson P.M.R.A.F.N.S. (Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service) lunched at the Squadron and

 addressed  the W.A.A.F. officers on "Nits and Gnats"!!

          On 21st December 1942  all W.A.A.F. Officers were given a number of inter-flight changes following on from the visit of Squadron Officers

 Swatton and Pritchard.

          On Xmas Day 1942 the Squadron Commander spent six and a half hours visiting each of the 40 sites, shaking hands with each member of the

 crews and giving them all a small gift. Every site had turkey, much food and was decorated. In the evening one Flight Sergeant from each Flight

 represented their Flight at the Squadron Commanders Dinner.

On New Year's Eve the Squadron was made up of 315 Airmen and 664 W.A.A.F.

          On the 31st January 1943 on Site 37/50 a balloon exploded. Three W.A.A.F some ten feet away were unhurt yet huts and windows some

 200 feet away were quite badly damaged.

          On the 6th February 1943 the weather was appalling but the behaviour of the W.A.A.F. to deal with these conditions was quite exemplary. 

                      

           Vera Potter with her friend Peggy both 17 years old               Vera Potter age 18 in 1942. dressed up for her only day off 

        in 1941 Waitresses at The Embassy Cinema Cafe, Gillingham,                         the Barrage Balloon Site in a Fortnight

 

          At some time during the above dates 2018938 Vera Dorothy Potter was one of the new "types" to be seen on balloon sites. She had joined

 up to the  W.A.A.F. and had chosen the relatively new trade, for a female, of being a Barrage Balloon Operator. She had been born in January

 1924  the daughter of Charles W. and Edith E. Potter of 82 Arden Street, Gillingham, Kent. Her father was a retired Royal Navy Seaman.

          She arrived at Newcastle Central Station in 1942 in the pitch dark. The trip from Gillingham, Kent had been long and tiring. Eventually the 

crowd  of newly trained balloon operators were herded together and told to throw their kitbags into the back of 2 three-tonner lorries and then

climb in amongst them. In darkness they arrived at their site, No.74.  

       

 2018938 Vera Potter                                              The Gang at Site 74 Re-inflating a Balloon           

Two R.A.F. men stayed with the girls that evening to get them settled in. The following morning, they awoke and looked around their site and 

were amazed to see no houses or shops, they were in a very isolated part of Newcastle. For many of them the move from city life to green fields

 was a bit of a shock. no local shops, cinemas or other entertainment was within easy reach.

          As such she was one of many women to lead the drive to replace men on balloon sites so they could be used elsewhere in the war effort.

 Such  "intrusions" by women in 1942 were not always welcomed by certain officers and some of the male balloon operators. Balloon work was

 hard and some men and certainly some officers considered it unsuitable for women. Vera and her female balloon crew soon showed them a thing 

or two. 

          The site consisted of three oval corrugated iron huts that acted as sleeping quarters for the sergeant and corporal and a recreation hut.

 The second one was sleeping quarters for the other ranks. The third was a cookhouse and dining room. These were basic accommodation and very

 spartan they were too. The flooring was covered with a form of linoleum and the hut was heated by a central "Smokey Joe" stove. They did have

 electric lights though.

Water had to be obtained in the ablutions and hot water was obtained via the coke fired boiler.

Rations were delivered from a Headquarters at Dunston and two girls took it in turn to cook the crew meals. For may of the girls cooking was

something they had not much experience in and a number of famous disasters in the cookhouse soon became legendary. Like the time when Vera

Potter forgot to steep the mushy peas prior to cooking them!!

          Toilets consisted of four cubicles outside that had four Elsan buckets that needed regular emptying by the local council.

Working clothes were the standard W.A.A.F. battledress over which they wore boiler suits and headscarves to keep their hair out of the way. 

The crews began to fly their balloons on receiving orders from the Headquarters. Balloon drills were the usual  8 ranks with the leader shouting

 instructions from a megaphone.

The usual knots, splicing of cables and patching of balloons was a common practice.

          The girls had a dartboard and sometimes were lent a wind-up gramophone for a week at a  time. This gave the girls the opportunity for a

 sing song or a dance. There was no bath on the site, so the girls used to travel in groups of three or four to the public baths at Scotswood. Later

 on, the White City Stadium allowed them the use of a large footballers bath on the premises. The local Vickers Tank factory was not far away, and

the girls would get a few lunchtime visitors who would watch them and pass a few comments about their activities.

In time a few young men would approach the girls on the site. As these were local boys the girls would try and find out from them where the best

places to go were when they had time off. At that time, they found out that Blaydon had three cinemas and two dance halls. Vera chatted to a

young man called Charlie Page who lived at Blaydon Haughs. Charlie was one of seven children and had two sisters and five brothers, including

twins, Joe and Mick.

A romance blossomed and Charlie went home to tell his brothers that there were some lovely young girls on the balloon site. Of particular

attention were 2018366 Grace Futcher and 2024695 Aminda Reeks.

Grace Futcher had been born in October 1918 the daughter of Frederick T. and Ellen Futcher of 10 Landport Terrace, Portsmouth, Hampshire. Her

father had been a Hotel Waiter.

Aminda Mary Reeks had been born in October 1923 and was the daughter of Arthur T. and Catherine A.M. Reeks of 25 Sycamore Road, Stoke

Church, Guildford in Surrey. Her father had been a Railway Locomotive Fireman.   

                  

                                                  2018366 Grace Irene Futcher & 2024695 Aminda Mary Reeks.

 

                 

                                                     Aminda, Grace and Vera in 1943

In late 1943 Charles K. Page married Vera Dorothy Potter at Durham. True to form the twin brothers struck up friendships with other members of

the balloon crew. Joseph Page married 2018366 Grace Irene Futcher from Bournemouth at Poole, in the late part of 1944, and in early 1945, his

twin, Clarence (Mick) Page married 2024695 Aminda Mary Reeks who was from Sycamore Road, Stoke Church, Guildford in Surrey. 

All of the brothers worked as coal miners during the war, and they all lived at 20 Pioneer Street, Blaydon Haughs.

All three Page girls ended up settling in the North-East post-war.  

                                

                        Wedding Photograph of Mick Page and Aminda Reeks at the Brides home town at Stoke Church, Guildford, Surrey

 

                                     

                             Retired Miners and former Balloon Operators in 1980 (L-R Grace & Joseph, Vera & Charlie, Aminda & Mick)

I think this must be quite a unique story where three W.A.A.F. members on a site ended up marrying three brothers from the same family and all

three Page girls settled well away from their original hometowns. 

                                  

 

                                No description available.

                       Teenage Aminda Reeks coming out of her home on Sycamore Road, Guildford, Surrey

                     

                                                                                            Balloon Operators with their Tin hats

                          

                                                                         Balloon Bedded Down at Site 74

 

                                                       

                                                              Girls having Fun on the Eagle Gas Trailer

 

 

We must always thank these W.A.A.F.'s for their part in winning the war against a tyrranical Nazi threat.

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