Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 25
We also received our company uniforms to wear, a Scottish kilt – the tartan could be individually selected – my two were the Blue Douglas and Lord of The Isles. White blouses with short sleeves and a small ‘stand-up’ collar with a 'tie' incorporated from the collar of the blouse on which we pinned the ‘Golden Lion’ brooch – this held the 'tie' to the blouse. (The Golden Lion being a children’s trust the airline sponsored) Black low heeled shoes and either stockings or tights were mandatory for us girls (with the heat in summer the blouse collar and the leg wear got more than a little uncomfortable at times because of the heat) oh, and topped off with a beret to match the kilt. We also wore a jacket and white gloves and I would love to say these were for winter months when it was cooler, but no, it was standard uniform for formal occasions and airport duty at Kitwe's South Downs Airport. The men wore white short sleeved shirts, a tartan tie with the same tie pin, black trousers and shoes. Rules dictated that the Manager wore a tartan jacket for special occasions.
I was only in my job a matter of days when I opened the local newspaper to scan the births and deaths column – always of interest! I would get to work early and a quick look made me aware of what was what – strange but true of most people I think to turn to these two events first. Our Supervisor Barbara called up to me to ask if I could see a gentleman who urgently needed to travel to England. This is how I met Jim who was to become a close friend and subsequently too, married his second wife, Marguerite. Having remembered the surname from that morning’s deaths announcements, when he gave me his reason for the flight, I was able to sympathise much to his astonishment, until I explained. His wife had died when her car overturned with no other car involved and the medical staff pronounced a heart attack. He was the bearer of her ashes to England for internment. He looked so lost that compassion took over and it was then that I invited him to the farm on his return should he feel lonely.
At the end of July Terry and I were sent to head office at Gatwick for a familiarisation trip – and this is how I had my first glimpse of England! I so looked forward to that ‘green and pleasant land’ from my book and poem reading from the aircraft window all I spied was ‘dun coloured veldt’ really, the result of a summer of great heat and humidity.
We were accommodated in the nearby Copthorne Hotel and visited the prefab building the airline offices were temporarily housed in called a ‘terrapin’ type building. This was a disused hangar with offices built inside.
How we marvelled at the automated reservations system! The airline was awaiting the completion of a multi-storied building to rent and it was subsequently named “Caledonian House.” We were also shown round Gatwick and met all the staff – everyone we came into contact with were friendly and helpful.
We flew from Gatwick to Glasgow, went by road to Edinburgh and flew back to Gatwick on our tour. At the weekend Barbara joined us and we went off to explore London. I must say the humidity got to me and I was perspiring which I never did in landlocked Zambia where we were on the Copperbelt approximately 4500ft above sea level. Most of England is well below this, sea bound with I believe, no town or city more than 30+- miles from any coastline. We visited the London Zoo too and I had my first glimpse of an Orang-utan. In the years that followed I came to dislike zoos of any description, they are not a natural habitat for wild animals.
On our return to Victoria Station for the train, I was astonished to see stretcher after stretcher being off-loaded from the carriages into waiting ambulances. The stretcher cases were so sunburnt as to require hospital treatment. Perhaps incidents like these led to the coining of the phrase from a song by Noel Coward “Mad dogs and Englishmen out in the noon day sun …!”
Our week soon passed before we were back and hard at work. Our office hours were 8.30am – 12.30pm, lunch break until 2pm and we finished our day at 5.30pm.
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