By 1938 Audrey had become a secretary in the steel industry, and a year later, that fateful year of 1939, she accepted voluntary service as a training officer in the Junior Air Corps. 

Audrey's civilian hobby at that time was as a team dancer in an operatic society, so she thought it would be a good idea if she volunteered to dance with the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, organised by the Daily Express. The purpose was to entertain the troops, including visits to Anti Aircraft Batteries and Camps in North and South Lancashire with a Concert Party. The Concert Party usually included at least one celebrity, such as Stanley Holloway and others. So we know who to go to for entertainment at our Christmas Social this year. We can't wait. 

In 1942 Audrey joined the Women's' Auxiliary Air Force, (WAAF), doing her basic training at Wythall, Glos. Her most vivid memories of that time were, a stiff back (from a roll pillow!), sore heels (from ill fitting shoes) and of being continually threatened by Warrant Officers of the consequences of passing out after their injections.  The punishment for fainting was that they would wake up with a mop and bucket in their hand..

After a spell of square bashing Audrey was posted to her first active job at RAF Catterick. She had to wait there for a Radio School posting, and therefore volunteered for any useful job going, (this was contrary to her father’s advice from the First World War, which was to 'never volunteer for anything'). Audrey became an Untrained Bearing Wheel Operator in a small tower in a farmer's field, giving bearings to the Operating Room for a night fighter squadron. This was before on-board Radar.

Then in 1942/43 Audrey joined up with the Radio Course, held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Twice weekly they were marched to Derby Baths for a shower (perhaps that's where the caption picture at the head of the previous page came front, we must ask her) and P.T. in shirt and black-outs on the beach. A further short course followed at Cranwell, prior to being posted to a maintenance unit at Cambridge where radios were being salvaged from aircraft. 

After a three week vetting at RAF Churchgreen complete with pass and photograph, she was ushered in to Station X, the highly secret establishment at Bletchley Park. Audrey describes her work here as 'doing a. mixture of teleprinter/radio/morse/slip reader.  Secrecy was of the utmost priority and no one knew what the next room was up to. She stayed at Bletchley Park until the war ended with the surrender of the Japanese. Audrey turned down an offer of a civillian job in the Foreign Office as being too dull a life to even consider. She was then posted again, this time to RAF Haydock in the North West Signals Centre, until demob at Birmingham in August 1946.