I have submitted!!!

A wartime challenge. Three unlikely friends. One unforgettable journey.

Set against the backdrop of Britain’s wartime waterways, this is a story about courage, friendship and finding your place in a world turned upside down.

In 1942, eighteen-year-old Ruby is desperate to do something that matters. Still grieving the sweetheart she lost to the war, she refuses to accept that her own contribution to ‘doing her bit’ for the war effort is limited to Knitting for Victory and being part of Britain’s Make Do and Mend army.

Too young to be conscripted and frustrated by the limits of home-front life, Ruby’s world shifts when she stumbles upon an old advert claiming that women are not strong enough to take over the narrow boats left idle by the men who have left to fight. For Ruby, the challenge is irresistible.

Struggling to prove she is capable, Ruby eventually convinces the men of the Ministry of War Transport to accept her application and she leaves home to become one of the few women operating Britain’s narrow boats for the war effort.

Finding herself training alongside Violet - spirited and gloriously out of place, and Agnes - strong and capable, Ruby discovers true friendship bound by hard work and bravery.

When Ruby meets Violet’s brother life takes an exciting and romantic turn she never expected.

LOREM IPSUM

Wartime Rations
Seaford Museum

Powdered egg anyone?

This shop assistant didn’t have a lot to say - but I did my best.

However, the shop she worked in was very enlightening in terms of produce available during wartime Britain rationing.

Interview with the Station Master
Harwich Museum

This chap was able to help me with rail travel in the 1940’s. I’m not accustomed to people smoking a pipe during an interview but it did give him an air of authority on the matter.

A quick chat with Mrs Watts in the year 1944

Seaford Museum

Lovely to learn about the day to day life of a woman in the 1940’s. Of rations, coal scuttles, Anderson shelters, gramophone records, Churchill broadcasts, the National loaf and homily pie. The list is endless and totally fascinating.

A peek into the tiny living accommodation of an “idle woman” on a narrow boat during WW2

Canal & River Trust Museum

The waterways of war torn Britain required the stoic efforts of women to take over after the men left to fight in the war. Life was tough, food was limited, the lavatory was a bucket but their work was essential.