SHE was just an ordinary working class
girl.
But like so many of her generation, she
lived through quite extraordinary times.
Now Ruby Gascoigne is living proof that,
even if you are knocking on the door of 90, it’s never too late to fight
for what is right.
Ruby, who lives just off Duke Street, is
no ordinary woman - she is one of Sheffield’s Women of Steel.
She was one of the thousands of South
Yorkshire women who kept Sheffield’s armaments industry in production as
Nazi bombs fell across the city.
And now a new book entitled A Woman of
Steel: Ruby, A Diamond Forever by Stephen Johnson, tells her story.
“I’m very happy with the
book, I hope it sells well,” she said at the official launch.
“It’s brought back a lot of
memories for me - there are photos of many of my friends, some who are here and
some who have gone.
“I’m very proud to see our
story told - the last two years have been just wonderful.”
Ruby was married to husband Frank for 42
years and worked as a cook. A mother of five sons, grandmother of 14,
great-grandmother of 20, and great-great-grandmother of one, she joined a
generation of women toiling in the steelworks while their menfolk fought
overseas during the war.
Their incredible contribution would have
been largely forgotten if it hadn’t been for the Women of Steel campaign
launched by Ruby along with Dorothy Slingsby, Kit Sollitt and Kathleen Roberts.
Together they carried their fight for
recognition to very top in a journey which took them to see the Prime Minister
himself.
The book is available in The Star Shop
in York Street, priced £9.95.
From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/this-woman-of-steel-is-forever-a-diamond-girl-1-4346708
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