Description:Some of the canteen staff at Frobisher Hall enjoying some free time. Front row, far right is Alison Webb (then Wharton) who started work at Frobisher Hall in 1940, aged 15. Back row, far left is her younger sister. The girl in between them standing at the back is Nellie Kizis aged 19. Nellie from age14 had been in service in Edinburgh but after pestering her parents she was eventually allowed to "sign up" to do her bit. All four of her sisters did similar work (ie cooking) in Edinburgh at a canteen for air crews. Her eldest sister Mary was the WAAF officer in charge and her younger sisters all worked under her Margaret, Annie & Agnes.
Frobisher Hall was a hostel for workers at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Swynnerton during and just after the 2nd World War. Workers at R.O.F. Swynnerton, a high percentage of which were women, filled shells, bombs and other armaments, including 20mm shells for Spitfires, detonators, boosters and tracer shells. The work was unpleasant and dangerous and the explosive powder could turn skin and hair yellow. Even worse, a number of women lost fingers, hands or even limbs in explosions at the factory. 5,000 people started work in 1940, many of whom came up from Woolwich and the east end of London, housed in hostels built near the factory at Swynnerton, Yarnfield and Coldmeece. By 1942 the workforce had increased to 18,000, may of whom were recruited from the Potteries, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stone and other local towns and villages. New housing was built in Walton and Coldmeece to house the workers. The factory reduced in size after the war, but remained open until 1958.