In the autumn of 1915 the organisers of the Women’s Service Bureau, anxious to assist women who applied to them for help and advice in obtaining posts under the newly constituted Ministry of Munitions, immediately sought openings in which educated women with a natural bent towards machinery and mechanical work could receive instruction in a skilled process. After consideration, it was decided to arrange a training in the process of oxy-acetylene welding, a work which seemed to combine various advantages. It was a skilled process comparatively new in England, and one which women had hitherto had no opportunity of learning, and should they be successful in taking up the work, there would be plenty of scope for them, as the process was being increasingly used in aeroplane manufacture. For this reason there was a good chance of its being continued after the war, and not proving a blind alley like so much present-day work. Accordingly, a small school was established under an able and experienced metal-worker, Miss F. C. Woodward. The process taught is almost entirely used in aeroplane construction, namely, the welding of sockets and joints, struts, levers, and the parts of the frame-work. [Illustration: ACETYLENE WELDERS _To face page 137_ ] Even before the war there had been a shortage of trained welders, and, with the enormous increase in aeroplane work and the enlistment of so many skilled mechanics, the demand for such workers was enormously increased. The school was opened in September, 1915, and by December the first girls were sufficiently trained to take posts in a factory, the controller of which had been interested in the project, and had helped the school at its start in setting up the necessary plant. The pioneer women welders have been followed by a steady stream; and such has been the success of the training that no welder has any difficulty in obtaining employment as soon as she leaves the school. From this small training centre alone over 150 welders have already passed into various works. The process is generally recognised as the speediest and most effective way of securing a perfect weld without any deleterious effect upon the metal, and consists in employing the flame produced by the combustion, in a suitable blow-pipe, of oxygen and acetylene. The temperature of the flame at the apex is about 6300 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is by this means that the metals to be welded together are brought to a suitable heat. The worker’s eyes have to be protected from the powerful light by special goggles, and they also have to wear caps over their hair, and leather aprons. The work is fascinating, even to the onlooker, and absorbing to anyone with craftsman’s instincts. It involves considerable responsibility, and the welder needs to be conscientious and careful in the extreme, as upon the efficiency of her work, if used for aircraft construction, depends the stability of the machine and, consequently, the life of the airman.