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ww2: World-renowned war artist Dame Laura Knight is commissioned to paint propaganda portraits of factory girls..
The Night Raid
What you need to know before your trail
World-renowned war artist, Dame Laura Knight, is sent to the ordnance factories in her hometown of Nottingham. At first she relishes the opportunity for a nostalgia trip, but when she starts work on a portrait of two particular women, Violet Smith, and her co-worker Zelah Fitzlord, memories begin to resurface that she has spent half a lifetime trying to forget.
Violet is an industrial conscript, and her wages help support a sprawling family back home in Kent. But working in munitions also meant freedom from a small-town mentality, and the disappointment of a first love turned sour. For Zelah, too, working in the gun factory meant escape: her dreams of the future were dashed in the carnage of the Plymouth Blitz, and she found refuge in the numbing repetition of manual work.
But, just like war artist Laura, Violet and Zelah have something hidden, mistakes that they have tried to leave behind with their old selves.
Locations
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Travel BookTrail style to Nottingham
The book might be fictional but as the author explains, there is a lot based on real life and the story of Dam eLaura Knight. She was indeed a war artist in both the First and SEcond World Wars. Her husband Harold Knight, was also a well -known painter
During WW11 there was a Royal Ordenance Factory (ROF) in Nottingham on the site of what is now the NG2 business park. Around 14,000 (mostly women)workers put in 12 hours shifts, making anti-aircraft guns. After the war, the factory made Centurion tanks and finally closed in 2001.
Near ROF Ruddington, a shell -filling factory and ammunition depot was decommissioned in 1945 and the land converted into Rushcliff Country Park in the early 1990s.
Real locations
The Flying Horse Inn, was a popular drinking spot for the Polish pilots who trained at RAF Hucknall. The pub itself no longer exists but the frontage remains, as the entrance to a shopping arcade.
Laura’s childhood hoe was opposite Forest Fields and there is actually a blue plaque testifying to this.
Angel Row – The Ritz cinema is no more but the library still exists.
The Park Estate, Wilford Village and Attenborough Village as well as Trent Valley Sailing club are also real.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Night Raid
Destination: Nottingham Author/Guide: Clare Harvey Departure Time: WW2
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