Marjorie Jill Holman

Jill, the daughter of SD Operator Dr Alec George Holman, was only 14 years old when she was enrolled: "Colonel Collins, the local commanding officer, asked my father if he thought I'd fold up at the sight of a German. My father told him I didn't fold up at anything - horses, bulls, schoolmistresses - so the colonel recruited me. He thought a brat on a horse was unlikely to be suspected of anything. So I was to ride out and spot any choice targets, in terms of troops or supply dumps."

At appointed times the messages were transmitted. Jill would be sent out at night, commonly on horseback, to deliver any messages they had received. The messages were hidden inside split tennis balls and deposited via a disguised pipe. Jill had two horses, one chestnut, for riding during the day, and one black, for night exercises when she would ride cross-country: "It was one big adventure at the time but then my brother was killed in action flying over Malta and I began to think more seriously about it and wanted to have a go at the Germans however I could."

Towards the end of the war Jill became a radar operator at the Chain Home Radar Station in Stoke Holy Cross. In 1946, she competed at the Aylsham Show on her then favourite mount, Merry Monarch, a horse she had also favoured, because of its dark coat colour, when out at night delivering secret messages. She remained a regular competitor at the Aylsham Show for many years, first as a horse rider and later as a judge and sponsor of the Highland Pony in-hand classes.

"I was mainly the courier and it was my task to take messages, concealed in tennis balls, to certain drop-off points. I do not know where these would have been on a map but I knew exactly where they were and also the quickest way to them, even in the dark, because I was very familiar with the area. I have no clear recollection of how the radio set looked like. I was instructed in its use but I think I’ve actually ever used it only on one occasion. I was far more interested in being out and about on horseback and had little interest in technical things."