Family on the hunt for names of Second World War Wren recruits who served in Bognor Regis

Rosemary Cairns, 67, from a village outside Swindon, is on a quest to learn more about her mother, whose service with the Women’s Royal Naval Service (officially known as The Wrens), brought her to Bognor Regis and Felpham.

She said her mother, Kathleen Hull, was called up despite the fact she was due to read Classics at St Ann’s College in Oxford, and chose to join the Wrens because she liked the uniform.

Based on the coast, she worked for the photographic corps, and spent her time taking and developing photos from airplanes.

"She spoke about the first time she went up in a plane and how they used to develop the photos. It’s really interesting, but she found it very hard to begin with, being away from home” Mrs Cairn said. “She was probably pretty useless in one sense, because she was an academic at that point.”

When Kathleen died in 2012, she nonetheless left plenty of artefacts from her time in the service behind – everything from photos, to letters, to family anecdotes.

But, after stumbling across a photo of three Wrens captioned ‘colleagues of K’s – names not known’, Mrs Cairns is hoping to find out more about the women her mother served with.

"I would just be interested to see where their lives led and what happened to them,” she explained. “I’d love to know the background of these three women. Because I know where my mother came from, she reluctantly signed up and she would have much rather pursued her career at university, and after that she changed directions completely. I wonder what the effect of the war was on these people, and I'd like to discover what they went on to do. It’s just fascinating can see how someone’s life is directed in certain ways.”

Mrs Cairns has asked anyone who recognises any of the three women to get in touch with the Bognor Regis Observer by emailing [email protected].

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