Eighty years ago this week, Kathleen had a lot to tell her family, because Paul, her pilot friend from Leicester, had sent a telegram ‘addressed to Leading Wren Oates’, announcing his arrival (confusingly, without saying exactly where in the UK) on Tuesday July 24.

Kathleen’s letters reveal that he had been mainly stationed in South Africa, with a shorter time in Egypt. None of his wartime letters to her have survived, although she quoted from them in her letters home, and occasionally forwarded them to the family in Leicester. Although there was no indication of anything other than friendship at the time, Paul may be the reason that Kathleen showed little real interest in any men other than Lieutenant Whiteaker, her boss when she first arrived at Ronaldsway, 11 months previously.

Assuming he planned to arrive on the Isle of Man, Kathleen went to meet the 3pm boat at Douglas, which he had indeed sailed on, before they caught the 4:30pm train to Castletown. ‘He bought me lots of bars of Canadian chocolate, from the boat on the return journey [i.e. from Egypt]. I’m afraid you won’t see any at home because I’ve shared it with some of the girls in the cabin.’

Paul stayed near the Ronaldsway base. ‘There aren’t any hostels here, so I took him to the George - a commercial hotel in Castletown - quite nice. In the evening, we walked by the river to Ballasalla and visited the nicest canteen there. I had to be back early as I was on night duty at 10 pm. Luckily, I finished about one in the morning - a kind-hearted Lieutenant took over my job, rather than sit there himself and do nothing – so I wasn’t tired the next day when I had all day off.’

‘Paul hired a cycle in Castletown, and in the morning, we set out cycling along the coast road to Gansey Beach, Port Saint Mary etc. We had lunch at Wendy’s, before coming on to Port Erin. We tried to get a rowing boat but it was impossible, so we sat on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. We swapped service experiences, comparing Barracudas, which were demonstrating above, to RAF kites.’ Another day, Kathleen took him to see Santon and Scarlett rocks. While showing Paul her favourite spots, Kathleen was able to observe the upswing in tourism: ‘there are lots of holidaymakers about and the coaches seem to be running now from Douglas round the island - that’s definitely new.’.

When Paul left to return to Leicester, Kathleen hoped ‘he was able to get on the boat easily because he didn’t come in uniform.’ Service personnel clearly had priority on the ferries.

Seeing Paul did not mean that she stopped socialising with other men. On July 30, Kathleen ‘went to Douglas with an OTC [Officer Training Corps] type whom I met on the boat coming over. We had tea then went to the cinema. After the flicks, we had supper, then walked along the promenade before returning to Castletown. I was rather tired as I’d been on night duty Friday till about 2:30 am and hadn’t slept after 8:30 in the morning.’

At the Base, work continued amid gossip about potential demobbing – hardly surprising when friends of the Ronaldsway personnel from all around the UK, were finishing their time in the Forces. ‘There are numerous rumours going around that the first 40 groups will be demobbed by September.’ Kathleen’s friend who had written in January, complaining of her unexciting life at Aultbea, a very remote Scottish Naval Base - since closed down - was now in Glasgow, declaring that she had never been happier than at Aultbea. It was quite a while since Kathleen had mused about the possibility of being drafted away from the Isle of Man.

In fact, Kathleen had a date to celebrate. ‘Do you know that Saturday – July 28 – is the anniversary of my joining the Wrens? I’ve been in for two years now! I’ve been thinking that I’ll have to have some sort of celebration. I spent my last anniversary at Mrs Muir’s [a Liverpool friend] and I didn’t remember that there was anything special about the date until I was on the tramcar returning to quarters. I remember I disliked life at Wesley College Leeds [where Kathleen had been stationed for a fortnight while being trained for the Wrens in the summer of 1943] and the thing that struck me most was the controlling of liberties. I believe we had to be in by 9:15 every night there.’

Another date marking a real change was on Kathleen’s mind. After the July 5 General Election, Labour’s Clement Atlee displaced the Wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and took office on July 26. She described how the news came through at the Base, and her colleagues’ reactions to it. ‘The election results came as a quite a surprise to lots of people, I think. I heard the news in the Ops room – we switched on the radio every hour to listen. There were several comments from officers present: one remarked that now Labour was in, instead of joining the Civil Service, he’d join the bricklayer’s union – as he thought he’d get a better deal that way! They were discussing the possibility of the dissolution of the monarchy etc. Like you, I sincerely hope they make a good job of things, now that they’ve been granted the power.’

Kathleen’s letter, posted July 31, ended on a happy note: ‘This morning was lovely; I went cycling out along Langness way and sunbathed. Tomorrow I should be off duty after night flying. If it’s a nice day, I’d like to go to Ramsey via the electrical railway from Douglas. Well, I must finish now - the sun is shining and calling me outside!’