Jean Dunning knew that she was going to be called up for service so she made sure she joined the WRNS so she had a choice in what she did - she wanted to be a cook.

Joining up

When Jean did join at the age of 21 she had to have a medical and even though she was told that she had a problem with her spine she was still accepted. At the time her parents did not encourage her to join the WRNS - she worked on a farm at home and was needed there, in fact she could have even been exempt from service.

Going for a medical and being encouraged by her parents

Jean joined up to the WRNS by herself, none of her friends went with her. One girl did travel with her but Jean couldn't understand her Aberdeenshire accent and they were separated once they got to London.

Travelling to London

Being a cook meant early mornings and a lot of cleaning. Jean had to work in the mornings scrubbing the Gulley floor, which was greasy and very slippy when went. She disliked it so much she asked if she could not be a cook!

Cooking

Jean describes the uniform she wore and remembers the girls laughing at her because she was very thin. She was moved to being an Officer's Steward.

Uniform

Once appointed as a Steward Jean was drafted to Dartmouth College for two weeks training.

Drafted to Dartmouth College

However she didn't learn very much as she already knew how to lay a table. However they did have to parade on the parade ground and on one occassion Jean was asked to take the parade with disastarous consequences!

Training

All of these WRNS were paid fortnightly as Jean remembers:

Pay

Jean also recalls the daily duties that she did - it involved a lot of cleaning!

Daily Duties

It was the first time Jean had used a gas oven and she was scared it would blow her up!

Gas ovens and working shifts