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 With the exception of half a dozen St John's Ambulance men from No.1 Factory who had been active throughout the air-raids on Birmingham, all the others in the works First Aid Unit were beginners. Practice sessions were held regularly in the Hostels for those of us who lived there, always in the evening in one of the various common rooms and sometimes, by permission of the management, during working hours, subject to production and the Foreman's permission. I Hope some of the men and women continued voluntary work of this nature after the war. Whenever the works Ambulance was called out the duties were spread in turn amongst our new members, their only chance of practice. They were spared the horrors of Air-raids. I have every confidence had the occasion arisen and they were put to the test my faith in them would have been justified. Team competitions with judges from the works medical staff were part of my training plan. Winning teams got a silver medal to Rover's own special design. Invitations went out and were accepted by those within the works who would be interested. The old Baxter School-room did good service. Were the Ghosts of centuries watching? They were used to war too. The civil war came very close here-abouts.

 With hundreds of men and women working and living away from home, it was paramount that provision be made should sickness occur. The works Surgery payed special attention to those in this category. The Hostel would be notified. l have mentioned before the old Rover Sick Bay. The National Service Hostels had a super one. That is where we stayed when confined to bed for a few days, if necessary, then on to the Hospital. The Staff were never so happy as when they had got a victim. Les Wells was in there some days. Run the same as a Hospital Visiting hours etc. always plenty of them. -We lived there - Tough old Les was really upset, his Wife didn't come to see him. Nurse was hoping Gladys would turn up. Pneumonia, Pleurisey, sap the spirit. I visited him there several times. The place was crowded. Out of town Hospitals were during the war year's. From 1943 the first batch of tunnel workers ( l was amongst them) were examined at regular intervals by the works Doctor. Life in a temperature controlled air conditioned artificial florescent lighting environment is unnatural. Laying hens whose function is to lay eggs did well in similar conditions! All we had to do was work. W.O.R.K. Well housed, fed, entertained, watched over. Our settled way of life then. It all seems so unreal now.

 SABOTAGE. The very sound of it conjoures up visions of undercover operations, right under our noses. Constant rejection of components by Inspectors on the Con-Rod Section caused a hold-up in production. Bloody Sabotage, No one remembers who started it, but it spread like fire. Mr. Bowden, Production Chief latched on to it. Police, Detectives, Management enquiries. Everybody agog for a few days or so, until it fizzled out. It was too eagerly seized upon. A red herring to mask bad work and poor production, coupled with the nervousness of those responsible for security.

 From time to time works Police would seal off a bay to conduct a thorough search of operators lockers where tools could be kept under lock and key. Those that lived on the job sometimes stored items of a private nature there, but Police had Master keys to all the lockers. What were they after? Missing components, tools, evidence of political or gambling activities. Black marketeering, who knows? After the first time the residents got organised. As soon as a Bay was closed all private material in lockers in other bays would be removed and hidden in all sorts of places, even to a bay which had just been searched. Confusion was general. Deliberately done to distract attention. Strangely it was always the Machine shop Bays that were affected.

 The four main tunnels were about 400yds long and 50yds apart. Bays at regular intervals, about 36, joined the tunnels. Between l and 2 were the Process Dept, Raw Material, numerous testing sections, Tool Room, Plating, Heat Treat, Sub-assembly Final view, Polishing, Fettling, Standards room. Off the other side of No. l were Short dead-end Bays, white metaling, Laboratory, Topical greasing Dept. Gauges Room. Stores, all the odds and bobs of a factory. Machine Bays took the entire space between Tunnels 2, 3 and 4.

 Every Friday a party of senior staff, nominally in charge of all the Rovers in the area, would arrive. Senior Inspector Mr. Greer would tour the departments with the resident Chief Inspectors who were simply scared of him, literally tremble if questioned. A local publican, an Inspector during the day-time would slip him a bottle of whisky, Oh yes, the power of booze. I reckon this weekly visit was a day out for some. Not for all though. Mr. Dymond the Production chief would hold confab with Mr. Bowden. Us poor mortals of Foremen would be summoned to the presence if their Department was lagging behind. They all joined in the inquest In the scrap mortury. Fridays were never very happy days, until they'd gone. We brightened up after pay parade. I had my problem. Conn Rod Production was a key to all else. Highly skilled work for me. I did get 2 Trainees into production. One of my regulars Horace, a boozer and a bad timekeeper, especially on local market days when pubs had extended licences. He apparently did a bit of boozing with Mr. Bowden. Imagine it, Works Production Chief and a Polisher ( Commrades of the bottle) My man told him, "These two trainees will never be able to finish a rod on their own." Bowden passed it on the Dymond - l was called to the Mighty. Dymonds " I've heard how two of your men, Price and Clark (yes even the names) will never make the grade. How long do you think it will be until they can finish a rod on their own?" l was taken aback. "I Can't think where you have got that from Sir" "Oh I have my ways of finding things out" "About two weeks now" l said. "Dismiss" The good God was with me. They did. Mr. Bowden believed what he was told too readily. Fatal , if you are a poor judge ofcharacter and ignorant of the job, and he was.

 Security within the works was 100%, or almost. More about that later. Patrolmen, officered by ex-policemen were always in evidence. Guard dogs, fierce looking animals, kennelled, fed and looked after exclusively by one man, patroled the perimeter fence "up top" 8ft high and heavily barbed wired and in some places coils of wire on the ground, plus wide deep tank traps. There were a few plain clothed Police around too.
 

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