W AR was only weeks away when Vera Davies and her friends sailed to the Isle of Man. It was their first holiday, but there would be no more for many years, and the four girls made the most of it.

Vera, who was 20 at the time, says: "It had taken us a year to save the £5 we needed, and we'd never had so much money in our lives.

"We made pockets in our corsets – yes we wore corsets even at our age – in case we got seasick and lost our purses."

A miner's daughter from Abbey Hulton, Vera was the eldest of four girls.

At 14, she started work as a paintress at Ashworth's in Clough Street, Hanley.

"I had met my friend Doris Lawton when I was seven and she was nine.

"Then I met my friend Mabel Smith when she and I worked with four other girls as a team at Ashworth's.

"In the August of 1939, I went with Doris, Mabel and another friend, Eileen Rushton, across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man for a holiday."

Vera was seasick, she remembers, but the women's pocket money remained safe inside their corsets.

"We stayed in a guest house run by two spinster sisters," she says.

"It had electricity downstairs, but not upstairs, so we had candles to light us to bed.

"There were four boys and four girls in the boarding house, but that was 1939 and there was no impropriety, although there were lots of pranks.

"One day the boys got into our room and hid all our clothes, and they used to put soft soap on our door handles."

And, despite their lack of funds, the group enjoyed their holiday.

Vera says: "We landed back at Bucknall Station with two pence and a little present for everyone at home."

Within days of their return, however, Britain was at war.

And the four friends were soon in uniform – the outfits of PMT bus conductresses.

"We knew we'd be called up to do something," says Vera.

"Eileen's brother-in-law worked for the PMT, and women were wanted to work as conductresses because, although driving a bus was a reserved occupation, conducting one wasn't."

Doris and Mabel were assigned to the Stoke depot, while Eileen and Vera were based at Fenton.

"I remember how we used to walk to the bus depots in the blackout," Vera says.

"Early turn started out at 4am and we'd walk home after the late shift between 10pm and 11pm.

"Then, after about two years, they put on a night shift bus, picking us up in the morning at about 3.30am, because we were the farthest away."

After the war ended, the women all married.

"I still see Doris, who is 92 and lives in Abbey Hulton," says Vera.

"I've just made contact with Mabel, who is 90, the same age as me, and also lives in Abbey Hulton."

Eileen has passed away, but the others say they'll never forget her, or the holiday together and their wartime service on the buses.