Carol Wootton on Shipbuilding
Lisa: Did you have an idea at school about what you wanted to do for a job?
Carol No idea at all, not a clue. I didn’t have any idea and my dad said, “What are you going to do?” I said, “I’ve got no idea” so he came home the next day and he said, “You can be a Tracer.”
I said, “What does a Tracer do?” He said, “Well, it’s the drawings on …” anyway he said, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you an interview. You go down there tomorrow you can have an interview.”
I know I went down there. Half way down there it started to rain, I was like a drowned rat but never mind, in I go and when I went there I thought ‘Ah yes, I recognise the material’ because my dad used to bring home old bits of linen and that was the linen that we actually drew on and when you wash it it’s linen underneath but it’s got this blue sort of film over it which we would do the tracing on because … for example if you knock your coffee over that was the whole thing ruined because it just took this surface off.
Whatever it was on the top I’ve got no idea but it was proper linen underneath.
he said, “I’ve got the job”, down I go, and I went into the office and I can remember as though it was yesterday. There was 19 ladies in there, only ladies, and it was huge drawing boards.
I mean we’re talking about twice this size. I mean I didn’t really know and in I went and there was Miss Hussey and she was in charge and Miss Harwood. Miss Hussey’s bit was sectioned off. Everybody else was all round this big room and we were right up on the top floor then.