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This is Bertha Gadd’s story as told to Charlotte Gill at the Dingemans Centre in Steyning

To be honest I had a good time during the war. As I was working in the dairy and delivering the milk I used to go past the Canadian Army base. The Red Caps at the gate would always ask me what the entertainments were and when they were on. Although I was the only girl on the farm, I used to meet up with the other land girls from the nearby farms and go to the shows and dances at the Queens Hall in Cuckfield.

I was in service at Lord Dennings'. I was his housekeeper and we were often posted on fire watch together. He was always very polite and thanked you for his meal. I was called up in 1940 to be a Land Girl and they wouldn’t release me until 1945.

All the girls in Cuckfield were asked to look after the Canadians and make sure they were alright while they were here — they were often only billeted here for a few weeks so there were always new chaps to entertain. Because of my work in the dairy I was often asked if there was any spare milk they could have even if it was only a 1/3rd of a pint. They would often give me chocolate bars in exchange for the milk —with a round of 1000 customers I could often hide a pint for the Canadians next door. You can imagine the amazement on my 7 brothers and sisters faces ‘Can we really have one each?’ when I came home with a beret full of chocolate bars. The Canadians always seemed to have plenty of food unlike us — my poor mother trying to make the rations go round the 9 of us.

My mother used to worry about me going out with the Canadians, always a different one as they weren’t here for long. I was out almost every night, but I never went to the church yard at night like some of the girls. I knew you had to be careful — there wasn’t the type of sexual protection that there is today. Some girls weren’t so lucky. But I knew the Canadians just wanted some company being so far from home and so they were always well mannered with me.

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