One of the girls who had been on their shift when the officer had asked for volunteers piped up as she passed by. ‘From what I hear, you have to pass a medical before they accept you, and one of the tests is to see how much weight you can lift. After that you’ll be sent on a training course and they’ll make sure you’re capable of doing the task in hand, so I doubt you’ll be in that much danger.’

Maude smiled confidently at Olivia. ‘That doesn’t sound too bad. If it’s not for us then we’re no worse off than when we started.’

Olivia agreed. A few days later, having both passed the medical, the friends were told to gather their belongings and get into the back of a lorry bound for Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire. The journey was an arduous one, not helped by the stale corned beef sandwiches which had been supplied by the cookhouse.

Olivia peeled back the crust to look at the dry tinned meat. ‘It’s going to be hard enough getting this down without bringing it back up five minutes later …’ She closed her eyes as the lorry sailed over a series of lumps and potholes, then opened them again as the road levelled out, and placed the sandwich back in its wrappings. ‘I’ll save that for when we break down.’

‘Don’t you mean if?’ enquired Maude.

With the lorry lurching across another set of potholes, Olivia shook her head. ‘Nope.’

Despite Olivia’s doubts, the lorry drew to a halt outside the entrance to their new RAF base. ‘Thank goodness for that,’ said Olivia as she half jumped, half slid over the lorry’s tailgate.

Maude landed neatly beside her. ‘I say we sign in then go and get summat to eat.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ agreed Olivia. ‘I don’t care what it is, as long as it’s edible.’

A stern-faced Waaf was walking towards them, clipboard in hand. She introduced herself as Corporal Walker then proceeded to call out their names. With everyone accounted for, she led them over to the hut where they would be staying, opened the door and waved a vague hand in the direction of the beds. ‘You need to make your beds, put your stuff away and tidy round. After that you can grab a bite to eat in the cookhouse. Any questions?’

Olivia was crossing her fingers that no one would ask anything when one of the Waafs further down the room mumbled something inaudible.

Corporal Walker looked around expectantly. ‘Did someone say something?’

A rather embarrassed Waaf stepped forward, smiling apologetically. ‘Sorry, Corporal Walker, but I’m starving.’ She glanced around at the other girls. ‘We all are.’

Corporal Walker looked around the sea of faces all nodding their agreement. ‘Didn’t they provide a packed lunch?’