- Paperback: 232 pages
- Publisher: M.& M.Baldwin; New edition edition (17 Aug 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0947712283
- ISBN-13: 978-0947712280
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.4 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 395,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
This work deals graphically with the difficulties, discomforts and dangers faced by inexperienced trainee boatwomen during the "war effort" in World War II. The author was one of the women operating cargo-carrying narrow boats on the canals of the Midlands. The women sought to match the inherited skills of the working boat families. The book also reveals the pleasures of country landscapes and the satisfaction of achievement when things went well. The everyday life on "the cut" is described, working in what was predominantly a man's world. Also described is enrolment, first impressions of the boats and crews, a bombing raid on the Regent's Canal, loading at Regent's Canal Dock, being frozen in, and trips to Birmingham and Oxford. The title of the text refers to the badge that trainees were awarded bearing the letters "IW" (for Inland Waterways). The wearers were dubbed "Idle Women". This text was first published in 1947 and re-published in 1986. This edition comprises the whole of the original text.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Second World War added further to the opportunities for women opened up by the social changes of the twenties and after. In this unprecedented national crisis, recruitment of men into the forces led many canal carrying companies short of essential barge and narrowboat crews. These were needed for the transport of war materials between the ports and industries of London and the Midlands. Into this gap came a number of women trained by the Ministry of Transport to take up employment with the Grand Union Carrying Co and others. And so, for £3 per week, this mens' work, heavy and uncomfortable as it usually was, was taken up by a number of adventurous, usually middle-class, women and girls. Their national service badge-IW for Inland Waterways, was the basis for the joking reference to idle women, which they certainly were not. They were soon to show that they could do all that men could, and often more.
This lively account by Susan Woolfitt adds to that of her trainer, Elie (Kit)Gayford ('Amateur Boatwomen'). First published in 1947, it describes her life on the canals from 1943 to the end of the war, as well as the liberating, albeit temporary, existence away from family obligations. In this she and her comrades faced appalling weather, dirt, cold and the effects of air-raids. There are evocative descriptions of wartime life and industrial and rural landscapes, as well as of the proud, now vanished life of the professional boatpeople. This reprint and its sketches and photographs are an entertaining and well-written addition to our knowledge of the period and the tough and hardworking volunterism it produced.
This lively account by Susan Woolfitt adds to that of her trainer, Elie (Kit)Gayford ('Amateur Boatwomen'). First published in 1947, it describes her life on the canals from 1943 to the end of the war, as well as the liberating, albeit temporary, existence away from family obligations. In this she and her comrades faced appalling weather, dirt, cold and the effects of air-raids. There are evocative descriptions of wartime life and industrial and rural landscapes, as well as of the proud, now vanished life of the professional boatpeople. This reprint and its sketches and photographs are an entertaining and well-written addition to our knowledge of the period and the tough and hardworking volunterism it produced.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Was a bit doubtful about this book to start with as it went into great detail about the layout of the boat. When once I'd got past the technical details I found this book fascinating. These women certainly didn't have it easy. The opening of lock gates must have been a great test of stamina. The description of the canals was lovely even in the severe weather conditions endured by the author.
Susan Woolfit manages to combine humour, comradeship and family life into her year on the canals.
Susan Woolfit manages to combine humour, comradeship and family life into her year on the canals.
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