HAMBLETON Twins, ATS - ordnance factory, newspaper photo?

Good evening

I’m trying to track down a picture of my Nan and her twin sister in an ordnance factory during WW2 (see attached newspaper article which refers). I’ve had a good dig on the British Newspaper Archive website but no joy. Can anyone help me find it please as I (and my Mum) would love to see it. They were Joyce and Kathleen (Kate) Hambleton, born May 1922. I know Joyce spent time in or around Bedford during the war so it may or may not have been near there.

I’d be so grateful for any help.

James

 

My late mother came from Linlithgow, Scotland and was conscripted into the ATS, with a posting to ROF Nottingham. I would be wary of assuming the twins would be posted to Bedford. Did it have a ROF anyway?

Is there an official / voluntary museum or association? Or a Facebook group for the ATS? The photo would have been official. I assume you have no date for the article, let alone which newspaper.

 

So does the newspaper article imply that it was seen in a newspaper in Ontario ? If you know where James A Hambleton lived in Ontario try the local paper there or Ontario Archives.

In addition to the BNA I believe there are also newspaper indexes on ancestry & findmypast (both free at most English county libraries). The library version of ancestry is international so may be of help.

Other places to try are:

The Imperial War Museum collections. IWM Collections As an official photo it may have ended up here. You will need to click the button to view the full description of each photo.
Picture Post or similar magazine
The War Illustrated magazine Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
Trove - it's an Aussie site, but have seen plenty of foreign news covered. Trove - Digitised newspapers and more

A few more Uk tabloid photo archives are shown here. Live news, entertainment & features. Breaking news, incredible real life stories and the very best …

Good luck

Travers

Edit: This is not your grandmother, but it seems to have been a popular theme:
A.T.S. SISTERS AND TWINS WORK IN SAME ORDNANCE DEPOT

 

I’ve been searching also, confirmed their birthday as 12 May 1922, also found photo’s of Joyce and Kathleen, and a photo of Kathleen in ATS uniform, but no luck on newspaper articles. You probably have the photo’s but if not give me a PM and I’ll send them to you

Cheers

 

I can’t think of a reason it would have been in a newspaper in Ontario, but now you’ve said it I guess it’s a possibility. I’ll try the other avenues you suggest. Thank you so much for your help

 

Message sent - thanks so much

 

Good ideas to follow up on. Thank you

 

Found these articles

 

I think I found the photo you were asking about, this was in a Canadian Newspaper

 

This is so so fantastic. Thank you so much. I’ll show my mum (Joyce’s daughter) this tomorrow. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.

I guess my only question is - why would an Ontario newspaper feature them. We don’t have any Canadian connections.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how you guys find the things that you do.
Absolutely brilliant, well done .

Lesley

 

Your Welcome Jimmy, Merry Christmas to you and your family

I should mention, the Source was Newspapers.com (a subscription site I use all the time)

 

Thank you Lesley…..just perseverance in my case, I just keep plugging different combinations of words in the search engines of the sites I use and keep looking……this one finally took a simple combination “Hambleton ATS” and I finally found it……albeit I tried English newspapers first, found nothing, and then tried Canadian Newspapers and “Eureka”

Cheers, and Merry Christmas to you and all the other researchers on the site