Shipmates,
Also Published on Facebook:
Dear Royal Naval Association
The post-war Wrens could do with your help.
The post-war Wrens, aka the girls who trained at Burghfield, Reading
(HMTE Burghfield/HMS Dauntless) have discovered that their history, in the form of the Dauntless Ledgers, has gone missing. These massive books listed every Division in date order with all of the trainees’ names along with their branch details and official numbers. In fact we believe it is the only record that ‘officially’ lists the Division/class numbers i.e. Warspite 305.
The Ledgers were last seen in the 90s when they were moved from one Store to another in Raleigh. Some say that they were loaned to Yeovilton for the WRNS Centenary celebrations in 2017 but Yeovilton say they don’t and didn’t have them. An extensive search has been carried out in Raleigh and there’s no trace of them. It is now feared that they may have been accidentally destroyed.
The MOD estimate that somewhere near 33,000 ladies joined up and trained through HMS Dauntless. We are trying now to find those ladies or their descendants so we can rebuild our history in digital form. Trying to find 33,000 anything is a very tall order and we need all the help we can get.
Please could you share our search with your members, along with our ‘attached’ poster.
With fingers crossed and grateful thanks
WRNS Burghfield-Dauntless