Description:Joyce worked in the Fire Brigade during World War Two.
Birthday 27 September 1902, she would have been 39 coming 40. Photograph taken at The Peak, Chillington Lane, Codsall Wood. Member of the Auxillary Fire Service, Codsall Branch which operated from The Terrace, Oaken.
At the time of the photograph my father Douglas Yates was serving with the RAF Regiment in the Middle East and Tony and John were at school at Uppingham. Moved to The Peak in 1939 from Kings Norton.
With the threat of war looming an Act was passed creating the Auxiliary Fire Service, which on the outbreak of war saw the AFS members working alongside the regular fireman. The Blitz started from late summer in 1940 and saw widespread devastation all over London. Thousands of men and machinery were called in to deal with the fires.
The Auxiliary Fire Service was formed in 1938 and was mobilised on the 1st of September 1939 and disbanded at the end of the second world war.