In the summer of 1944 Kathleen Oates - a Wren assigned to the Women's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War - was transferred to the Isle of Man. During her time on the island, she wrote dozens of letters home which provide a unique commentary on the operations at Ronaldsway and what life was like on the Isle of Man 80 years ago. Her daughter, CHRISTINE SMITH, pores through her mother’s letters as part of a series of columns based on Kathleen Oates’s writing...

Eighty years ago this week, the Ronaldsway life of Wren Kathleen Oates continued to be both pleasant and social.

Of course, aspects of life in the forces came into her letters, but given that her family knew by now what her work entailed, she updated them mainly on less weighty matters.

And these could be fairly frivolous, such as how to style her hair.

Following her perm, Kathleen had decided to experiment with a simpler hairstyle and recounted how, when she was just enjoying egg and chips in the canteen, ‘in walked one of the air-gunners…. who asked what I had done to my hair?’

‘They said I looked like a kitten which had been pulled out of water!’

This led to a resolution to restyle.

Another hairstyle anecdote resulted from the good weather: ‘Yesterday was glorious but I spent it very lazily lying on the grass outside the cabin.

‘Jane was off duty until 4.30pm so I stayed on camp with her.

‘We did letter writing and darning, then some physical jerks.

‘I made a daisy chain for fun and put it on one of the girls who has lovely red hair.

‘During the course of the afternoon, we forgot about it and when she went into regulating office to collect the mail, the Petty Officer said to her: “Baker, you look very glamorous with daisies in your hair.”

‘Poor Lynn went very red, I imagine.’

From this point, Kathleen’s close friendship group would include the other plotting Wren, Cynthia, in addition to her stalwart companions, the two Janes.

Although Cynthia arrived a month or so after Kathleen, their relationship had mainly been one of plotting colleagues.

This was possibly explained by a gossipy letter which arrived that week from their former Leading Wren Olivia Thompson, saying that she had heard from another Wren how Cynthia had changed since she arrived at the base: ‘I am glad because I always liked her and thought her rather more shy than snobbish, as some people thought.’

It might also be because Kathleen and Cynthia were in the same cabin.

‘She sleeps in the bunk under me, we share the same chest of drawers – which has a very impressive array of books on top – including Shakespeare, French verse, Donnellan lectures and a huge book of all Velazquez’s paintings.

‘The rest of the cabin don’t appreciate our literary interests – especially when we feel like reading poetry aloud to annoy them.’

Cynthia had studied at Oxford University, reflecting the middle-class nature of many of the Wrens. University was not an option that Kathleen’s family could afford for her.

Thus, Kathleen was treated to an evening out on March 14, thanks to Cynthia.

‘Last night, I had quite an enjoyable evening. Cynthia came bursting into the cabin about 5.30 and asked me to go out to dinner with her.

‘A Lieutenant whom she knows had rung her up and asked her to go out to dinner and to bring a friend to complete a foursome.

‘She had to bully me into going as we only had about 20 minutes to get ready.

‘However, we caught the train to Port St Mary then walked about a mile to the Shore Hotel, where they’d ordered dinner.

‘We had a table in a very nice little room – decorated with brassware, galleons etc. It wasn’t a licensed place and as we had to wait for dinner, one of the Lieutenants borrowed a cycle and went about a mile to a pub and came back with four bottles of cider in his mac pocket. Quite an effort!

‘We had soup, followed by cauliflower, chips and some sort of shellfish covered with a weird sauce – but very nice.

‘The last bus leaves Port St Mary at 7.30, so we had to walk home – about three miles.

‘This quite pleased me, as I like walking and neither of the Janes are particularly energetic.’

The previous Sunday, March 11, Kathleen had relished wearing ‘civvies’ throughout the day, as she cycled ‘to Fleshwick Bay, past Port Erin with two others and sat on rocks watching some boys have a brief swim; cycled back for poached egg on toast tea and stayed in civvies for a Wren’s Rec dance that evening.’

Of course there was more to life on the base than hairstyles, poetry reading and socialising. On Saturday, March 10, there would be a cabin inspection by the Captain and much scrubbing out and cleaning the evening before.

Kathleen also needed to stay on top of her pay and shared her concern in her letter home. ‘This week, I was only paid £1.10.0 instead of £1.16.0 I don’t know why that was, but expect it will be made up later.

‘My higher specialised pay hasn’t come through yet, but I’ve made several enquiries which should expedite its appearance – I really need it.’

Yet again, however, the optimum work/life balance which Ronaldsway managed to achieve was reflected in former Leading Wren Olivia telling Kathleen that she had applied for a transfer back to the Isle of Man.

Although she had left because she sought more work, she found that she had less.

‘Most of the girls on this course complained about the same inactivity unless they are from Plymouth or Folkestone et cetera where there is naturally more doing. Really, Ronaldsway was very free and easy.’

Kathleen’s second letter home, dated March 15 finished with ‘well, pipe down has just come through over the tannoy – 10 o’clock – but that applies to the men, not us.’

Even so, her letter finished there.