FORTY and more years ago, when I used to talk to elderly ladies who had worked in Keighley’s Great War National Shell Factory, they would reminisce about the hard work and long and unsociable hours but admitted they had actually – in retrospect at least – enjoyed the experience because of the camaraderie it encouraged.
Some formed friendships for life.
Groups of friends would visit local photographic studios, proudly posing in their uniforms as if conscious that they would become part of their contemporary history.
Two members of this trio, photographed in 1915, are known.
On the left sits Miss Nellie Bishop and in the middle Miss Emma Wademan. When Miss Wademan married she became Mrs Bishop, presumably having married her work colleague’s brother.
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