大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Wendy Wood of Hastings Community Learning Centre, a volunteer from 大象传媒 Southern Counties Radio on behalf of Sheila Cruttenden nee Magan and has been added to the site with his/her permission. Sheila Cruttenden nee Magan fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

In March 1943 as a na茂ve sixteen-year-old I joined the Women鈥檚 Land Army. The fact that I was underage was not found out until a pay rise was due the following year!
Women enrolling came from all areas and all walks of life. Many came from the city like me who had been up until then working as a waitress at Carwardines Restaurant in Bristol. There I had occasionally served stage actors from the city theatres, such as Wendy Hillier.
I was initially stationed for six months at a hostel in Shurdington, Gloucester. I was fortunate enough to have met two WLA girls on the station platform the day I arrived. These girls became very good friends throughout my Land Army days and beyond.
The second hostel that I lived in was the rather magnificent Dumbleton Hall in the village of Dumbleton, Worcestershire. Apparently the Nazi Ambassador Baron von Ribbentrop had visited the Hall before the war and gave such a good impression of it to his leader, that Hitler made plans to use it for his personal home in the event of a successful invasion. Lord and Lady Monsell owned the Hall. The building was possibly offered to the WLA to avoid the destruction that befell other large requisitioned houses lent to the male forces. The WLA used most of the ground floor and some of the rooms at the top of the house.
Gloucestershire was a well-organised county in terms of clothing issued. The official list included, short sleeved fawn aertex shirts, fawn corduroy breeches, a fawn overcoat, brown shoes, knee length brown woollen stockings, a felt hat, green wool jerseys, a tie, a leather belt, khaki overall coats, khaki dungarees, a pair of boots, webbed gaiters, a mackintosh, a sou'wester hat, a pair of Wellington boots, an arm band and a metal badge. WLA girls were entitled to sew a half diamond on to their armbands for each completed six months service. A green armband replaced the red one after four years service and after eight years a yellow armband was issued.
I was offered no training and tasks were either just commonsense or learnt on the job from fellow girls. At Dumbleton all the girls were field workers. They were organised into gangs and sent out to farms that had requested labour. Gangs were transported to work in a WAEC (Worcestershire Agricultural Executive Committee) truck. Work involved mainly threshing in the winter months, but also included hoeing, singling, picking up, pulling sugar beet, picking out wild oats, harvesting and sorting potatoes. The WLA often found themselves working with Italian POWs. I remember the Italians were particularly fond of scented soap, a commodity they asked for in place of money for the wooden toys and string slippers that they made. I also remember working with German POWs. An awkward situation overcome only after the initial shock of 鈥渨orking with the enemy鈥� had worn off. Later after the war the WLA often worked with DPs (Displaced Persons) not really understanding their situation until years later.
After paying for my board and lodging I was left with about 11s 7d out of which came money for essential items such as washing powder, soap, towels, shampoo and stamps. My sister and I remember taking home washing for our Mum to do at weekends which was then sent back to us through the post! The girls were provided with a decent breakfast; fried bread and baked beans was a particularly well-remembered meal. Cereal and porridge were also available in the hostels breakfast room. A hot dinner was provided at the end of the day; however the girls prepared their own sandwiches to eat in the fields. The girls were given a pot of jam each month. At the cry of 鈥淛ams out鈥� a stampede ensued with the girls desperate to avoid being left with the less tasty varieties! This was the first time that I remember eating a 鈥淲eetabix鈥� which I took to work dry with jam spread on it. For drinks the gangs were given a screw of tea and sugar and were provided with hot water by the farmer.
Work finished by five o鈥檆lock although in certain cases overtime was available. Gladly taken on in the freshness of morning, but viewed with less relish by the end of the day. The hostel had a ten o鈥� clock curfew. Up until then the girls were able to please themselves after work. Dumbleton village had no pub but once the local lads and soldiers from the surrounding US army camps, got to know the girls better; they were taken further afield to other pubs, darts matches and dances in the surrounding villages. The cinema in either Cheltenham or Evesham were popular venues on Saturday afternoons and I can remember how the girls used to pile on the village bus in such large numbers that I thinks one bus driver was fined for overcrowding. I recalls one particular Saturday in Cheltenham joining the end of queue outside a theatre only to find Bob Hope with the singer Frances Langford on stage inside.
I returned to my home in Bristol regularly at weekends. Wearing my uniform and always with a friend I would hitch a lift from the main road, my first lift ever being in the back of a lorry carrying bottles of blood rattling in crates! Both train and bus were used for the return journey to the hostel.
In 1946 I took a one-year break, returning to my former job at Carwardines in Bristol. The following year I moved to Hastings with my parents and sister and rejoined the WLA. I worked on a variety of farms in the Battle area. In one strange incident the girls were set the ridiculous task of digging up and destroying tank traps with pick axes near Battle Road!! One surmises that the urgent need for essential jobs was winding down.
The WLA was finally disbanded in 1952 having been badly treated at the end of the war compared to the other services. They were offered no gratuity or civilian clothes and were not allowed to keep their uniform. After some time the authorities relented and allowed them to keep their jumpers, shoes and overcoat. As a protest some of the WLA girls marched to Cheltenham and staged a one-day strike, for which they were subsequently docked their pay. Lady Denham the Honorary Director of the WLA resigned in March 1945 over the issue.
I was given a certificate to commemorate my contribution to the war effort, signed by Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) Unfortunately I had to alter the spelling of my name and also the years of service did not include those from 1947 to 1949 in Sussex. All in all, I recall my Land Army days as being some of the happiest in my life.

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