WRNS with the Fleet Mail (England, November 1944):Just visible through the grid of sorting compartme
WRNS with the Fleet Mail (England, November 1944):Just visible through the grid of sorting compartments, a Mail Clerkof the WRNS sorts letters and packages in the shore Fleet Mail Office(probably at Portsmouth).Members of the WRNS sleep in hammocks at a naval base (probablyPortsmouth). These Wrens are cooks in the main galley, and they haveto be on watch at 4am, so “lights out” is 9pm.WRNS and RN ratings sort incoming mail for onward delivery to theships moored in the harbour. One Wren throws a letter into thecompartment marked “GPO London”.Sailors from ships moored in the harbour call into the Fleet MailOffice for information regarding train times, to buy stamps, or toenquire for parcels. A Wren reads information from a train timetableto one of the men. In the background, a noticeboard displays postersfor “It Happened One Sunday”, showing at the Ritz Cinema, and“Tender Comrade”, showing at the Rio.Wrens of the Fleet Mail load the mail boat for the first trip of theday into the harbour to deliver letters and parcels to the men onboard ships moored nearby.A Royal Marine stretches across from his landing craft to collect asack of letters from a Wren of the Fleet Mail. She is standing onthe Mail Boat, which has come alongside the landing craft.Two ratings collect sacks of mail from the Wrens who have comealongside their ship in the mail boat. The Duty Officer asks ifthere are any registered parcels.A group of sailors from ships moored in the harbour visit the navalstores to exchange worn cooking pots for new ones. A Wrenstorekeeper hands over the new pans.Two Wrens deliver mail to a vessel moored in the harbour on a coldNovember day. They are passing a sack across to the vessel from thedeck of the Mail Boat.The WRNS Duty Cipher Officer (on the telephone) is hard at work inthe Signal Distribution Office of the Central Communications Branch. She is distributing signals for the base. A WRNS Cipher Officerhands the DCO a deciphered signal through thehatch. -- source link
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