Welsh Air Hostess Working With N.A.C.

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28536, 15 March 1958, Page 2

Welsh Air Hostess Working With N.A.C.

Working temporarily for the National Airways Corporation is an experienced air hostess, Miss Pamela Margaret Morris. She comes from Wales, which explains the accent that has puzzled some passengers. “I was 11 years of age when I first announced my intention of becoming an air hostess, and though dreams of girls of that age rarely come to fruition I’m glad mine did,” she said yesterday. “My parents helped me all they could.” Born in Llanelly, South Wales, Miss Morris was educated at Breion. After leaving school she worked for four years in the Civil Service and then worked as a receptionist at a hotel for one season. She went to Paris as a governess to learn French properly. All the time she was preparing for a job as an air hostess, and her chance came when a friend posted her an advertisement of Cambrian Airways. As far as she knows, Cambrian Airways is the only locally-owned airline operating in Wales. With DC-3 and Heron aircraft, the company operates scheduled and charter services to the Channel Islands, Northern Ireland, Paris, Nice and other places. Miss Morris and her colleagues had to work out their own

schedule of duties, as they were the first hostesses employed by the company. “At first we did not supply refreshments and all we had to do was to keep an eye on the passengers, but later light refreshments and a bar service were provided,” she said. 2400 Hours Miss Morris has flown 2400 hours in the three years she has been an air hostess. Once she was aboard an airliner when the undercarriage jammed, and another time when the aircraft had to return to base because of the weather, but she does not regard those occasions as important Through the charter operations of the company, Miss Morris visited many parts of Europe. The company flew hundreds of refugees to Britain during the crises in Hungary, she has flown with Roman Catholic pilgrims .to Lourdes and to Lisbon, and once she flew with two Scotland Yard detectives to Gibraltar, where a cabin boy had murdered another member 'of the crew of a ship. “I have always wanted to go around the world, and as I knew some people in New Zealand I obtained extended leave and came out here,” she said. “By the way, I didn’t fly—that would be too much of a busman’s holiday. “I think New Zealand has got the best scenery in the world—a mixture of that found in Switzerland, Norway and Italy

New Zealanders are a very friendly people, and I like it here very much,” Miss Morris said. Back for Games An enthusiastic photographer. Miss Morris will take back to Wales a complete record of her

tour. “I want to get back home in time for the Empire Games in July,” she said. “Of course, you know where they are going to be held?” she asked the reporter. He knew they were going to be held in Britain, but was not sure where. Miss Morris’s intense patriotism was slightly shocked, but she quickly described the merits of that great Welsh city, Cardiff. “The N.A.C. have been very good to me, seeing that I am only in New Zealand for six months on a working holiday. Of all the aircraft I’ve ever flown in, I prefer the Viscount by far—l think its gorgeous,” she said. As New Zealanders know, Welshmen take their Rugby very seriously and every season Miss Morris’s company flies 400 or 500 supporters either to Dublin or Paris. “We have to work very hard at those times,” she said. Miss Morris’s favourite passengers are businessmen. “They don’t grumble, and they enjoy having an air hostess there,” she said. She will return to Britain in about a month's time.