Hazel & Bob

Jenny Hill and Tom Henderson contributed their memories to the county reminiscent magazine, In Our Age, in 2018.

After Jim Henderson’s garage at Whitney-on-Wye had been kitted-out with machine tools under the U.S. Lend-Lease scheme to make vital parts for allied aircraft in the last war, a 30-strong workforce of country women worked two shifts on a twelve- hour day there, six days a week. One of the first employees was Hazel Evans from Whitney. In the early 1940s, Hazel met Londoner Bob Rayner who, being fluent in French and German, had been recruited to the Intelligence Corps attached to the 49th Division and was stationed at Whitney Court. They married at Whitney Church in 1943, shortly before Bob left for the 1944 D-Day landings at Juno Beach. Bob was later posted to Germany to interrogate former Nazis. ‘It wasn’t easy for Bob and Hazel to adjust to peace time,’ remembered daughter Jenny Hill in the Autumn 2018 issue of In Our Age.

If you’d like to subscribe (4 copies, £15 a year) write to them at Herefordshire Lore,The Pavilion, Castle Green, Hereford HR1 2NW or call 07845 907 891 (www.herefordshirelore.org.uk)

(Jenny Hill/ In Our Age)