At lunchtime today, I read the obituary of Dame Marion Kettlewell in The Telegraph.
Dame Marion was a Wren and died on 11 April, aged 102. She joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1942 and in the years following 1947, she spent three years on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth and time as a Chief Officer in the Admiralty. In 1961 she was promoted to Superintendent, WRNS and later to Commandant, becoming the Director of the WRNS from 1967 to 1970.
What made me almost spit a mouthful of coffee onto my keyboard was this:
“By 1942 Marion Kettlewell … was selected to be commissioned and, after three weeks’ preparation at Greenwich, she was appointed as quarters officer in charge of the catering and accommodation at HMS Twatt….”
“HMS Twatt”? Sounds like something from the never-made RN caper “Carry on up Spithead”! The Navy Lark, eh?