Hines, Audrey

Audrey Hines was born April 1, 1921 in Surrey, England, and she grew up in and around the village of Hindhead.   Audrey had 4 siblings, and her father worked in the iron business.  When the war came Audrey was already 18, and in the early years she did war work, working at a factory that manufactured Wellington bombers.  But she wanted to do more and at the midway point she enlisted in the Royal Air Force, becoming a WAAF.  She was stationed at RAF Manston, where her main job on base was as a driver.  Manston was the first base the bombers could reach on their return trip from the continent, and when planes were low on fuel or damaged they’d have to land there.  Audrey’s principal job would be to meet them in her jeep and to escort them off the runways.  She performed her duties there through the duration of the war.  When the war concluded a good friend of Audrey’s went to Canada as a war bride, and Audrey decided to emigrate as well.  She arrived in Halifax in 1948, and made her way to Winnipeg and eventually Kenora.  She worked for the Ontario Provincial Police at first, and later went to university and became a teacher, finding her own road in postwar Canada.