大象传媒

55b - Land Army Days (concluded)

Joan Copson: Then I moved on to Chipping Norton House, I can鈥檛 quite tell you where this is, but nobody liked it much because when you settled down at night, it was so close to the ground in the hut and the mice came out! So we were all glad to get away from there, though there鈥檚 nothing more to say about that.
And then we went on to Bicester Huts as I call them. This was about two and a half miles outside Bicester and they were Nissen huts. Well it was very convenient for walking into town at night, we didn鈥檛 mind walking, landgirls, and there were lots of troops about and we all managed to get friends of some sort you know, and well you do, don鈥檛 you. And anyway the living was very cramped of course in Nissen huts, one kind of big boiler in the middle, and if you鈥檇 got wet that day all your clothes were hanging around and you were so cramped up, I don鈥檛 know how you managed to keep anything decent really when you come to think of it. And no wonder when we went to the village dances, the landgirls usually went in their uniforms because there was nowhere really to keep their civilian clothes very nicely.

Neville Usher: Even your nice dresses?

Joan Copson: Exactly, yes. But we got used to the cold and the damp and the awful boiler in the middle of the, you know the thing, but I called these huts 鈥渕y motorbike huts鈥�, because for some reason the forewoman, I can remember her now, Gwen, a big lady, blonde, she was a great motor cyclist and she had a friend, I think his name was Ken, he was a despatch rider, and there were two or three others that would come to the hostel for their girlfriends, there was Ed for Little Bet, I remember some others. And about 7 o鈥檆lock at night you could hear it zoom, zoom, zoom and nobody would go out with a young man with a car because it was 鈥�, well there weren鈥檛 many anyway, just perhaps an odd one that worked for the garage or lived at 鈥�., you know. I had a boyfriend for a short time, his father owned a garage and he had a car, but mostly people went for the motorbikes and things at that hostel. And that was where we had the big freeze up, in I think it was 1947 when we didn鈥檛 go out for nearly a fortnight, and we were cooped up in that place it wasn鈥檛 very good. We played in the snow and did all kinds of silly things to pass the time away you know. Then we鈥檇 go next door to the Plough for a drink at night.

Neville Usher: Did you listen to the radio much?

Joan Copson: Not a lot.

Neville Usher: Did you have a radio in the hut?

Joan Copson: I think we had a radio in some of the hostels, but we didn鈥檛 listen. As I say we were just leading our personal lives.
When Georgina and I would go home to mom, she had moved to Birmingham by now, then we knew the war was on because we had to get up in the night and go down, and then they would come out and gunning the workers as they came out of work and things like that, but other than that, except for all the boys that were about who, you know, came and went and that, you wouldn鈥檛 have known really, no.
Do you want a drink, or are you alright?

Neville Usher: I鈥檓 fine, no please carry on if you鈥檙e happy.

Joan Copson: Now the last one we went to, was Chesterton Lodge and this is about two and a half miles from Bicester. Bicester seems to focus a lot in our lives, doesn鈥檛 it. Well this was our favourite. And this was where we had 鈥�, it was all stripped but it was all wood, very noisy as you can imagine to walk on, but you know the type of big house with window seats and all that kind of thing, it really was nice for us 鈥榗os we had bedrooms with five in or something like that which we鈥檇 never had before. So we all became friends you know, and it was quite nice and there was 鈥�, I can remember there was Joan, she married Curly, then there was Bet, Little Bet she went back to Hull and married, and then there was her sister Dot, she married a farmer, and as soon as he left the farm and went up to Hull with her family they called him up, so he went into the Airborne because he鈥檇 seen so many of them, and then there was Aunty Vi we called her, her father was a reporter on the News of the World I think, she was the eldest of us and I don鈥檛 know why we called her Aunty Vi because she wasn鈥檛 very old at all, no, but she was the one that used to drive the big truck of course. But we made friends and we all went out you know and that kind of thing, we went around together.
Most of the boyfriends came from the Parachute Regiment, because they came to Weston on the Green which is not far from Chesterton and they did their six weeks training, how to jump and how to drop and all this. And of course they used to make a bee line for the hostel and you know we made friends and well they went away after six weeks and I don鈥檛 think some ever came back, but very few relationships stayed, but they moved on to the war and the next group moved in, and they came to the hostel, and they made friendships and some people like fell in love and that, but I must stress there was no sex, too frightened in those days of catching anything, and also of being pregnant, so you can imagine what it鈥檚 like.

Neville Usher: No sex education, no birth control?

Joan Copson: No, no. I do remember when were at that hostel, a horse called Airborne, I think it was the Grand National, Airborne you see with the Airborne troops, so everybody in the hostel had a go on it and really it came in you see first and we never felt so rich in our lives! Gosh we were rich that night, we didn鈥檛 have much to gamble with but it was extra money so we all went next door to the Plough and had a drink together.
Most of us only drank shandy or cider, nothing, well there was no money to drink anything stronger. Occasionally somebody would say have a sherry and you might have a go at it. Once at a dance I had a go at smoking a cigarette but I never smoked since. We went out to lots of dances from there, and if we could get our warden fixed up for the night with a nice officer or somebody, we knew we鈥檇 be staying for quite a while and we鈥檇 only come home when we had to, to get up next morning.
It was a lovely house, and I suppose we all imagined it was ours, so we had parties, and we had a party for the children at Christmas and things like that.

Neville Usher: Did you have to save up your coupons to get the food?

Joan Copson: Well we didn鈥檛, I don鈥檛 know where it came from but they somehow got it. Yes because we didn鈥檛 eat a lot really. Saturday I can remember when we worked till one was always the same, jacket potato, no butter of course, a piece of corned beef and beetroot, you could rely on that every Saturday dinner time. So sometimes there was a bit of stew and things, but there wasn鈥檛 a great deal of food.

I had a boyfriend once, I used to collect my petrol at his place, they had a shop and he would sometimes bring us a bit of chocolate and things like that you know.
But as I say we had a lot of invites out, I鈥檝e just told you that. And the warden was quite good really, but having to get up so early, six o鈥檆lock breakfast, get out on the 鈥�, we mustn鈥檛 be any later on the field than 7.15 to 7.30.

Neville Usher: This was in the summer?

Joan Copson: Yes. The hours weren鈥檛 quite the same in the winter of course. But it was hard work but we did survive.
Now I just wanted to say a little bit about VE day. I haven鈥檛 put it down, but I have put down to say it. We didn鈥檛 go to London but we went all the way to Oxford.

Neville Usher: How did you hear about it?

Joan Copson: Well I think we must have heard it on the grapevine, I can鈥檛 be sure. I mean we did go to the pubs, there was only one pub but we did go and everybody seemed to know in no time, so it was a chance to clear off. So most of us went to Oxford, that seemed to be the best place and there was lots going on you know what I mean, everybody was excited and things. And I can remember we did the conga all round the Carfax, you know what Carfax is, it鈥檚 the crossing with the four roads, St. Aldgate鈥檚, High Street, Cornmarket Street, the one that goes to the station. I can remember and everybody seemed to join the trail you know, until we were dead tired.

Neville Usher: Do you remember anything about D Day, or didn鈥檛 that come into it?

Joan Copson: Yes it did, but that was more personal because my Uncle Harry went, and came back, and then he went again and then he was taken a prisoner. But I can鈥檛 remember a lot about it. But I can remember Oxford.

Neville Usher: When did they teach you to drive?

Joan Copson: Ah, that comes in this last 鈥� But I must just tell you about VE night. Land Army were not allowed into NAAFI, or they were not allowed into Young Women鈥檚 or Young Men鈥檚 YMCA鈥檚, because we weren鈥檛 considered, you know, forces. So we slept, five of us slept over a milk bar near the bus station, and it was a milk bar that we used to use sometimes 鈥榗os we were fascinated. There was a theatre not far away, and we used to be fascinated with the make up, because we could only get a lipstick if we were lucky through our main office, whereas they seemed to have such heavy make up you know. We were always fascinated so we would go in the milk bar and buy a milk shake and you know chat with them and all that kind of thing, but I don鈥檛 know who invited us to sleep over the top in a flat, but five of us got down on the floor, and slept the night away after, we were so tired.
When we got back, three of the girls tried to tell us they had slept in the Randolph Hotel. Well, we took that with a pinch of salt because that was such a posh place, even in those days in the war it was only officers that would go drinking in there, but of course anything could happen on VE, so they might have been invited to just get down on the floor, anything could have happened, but I can remember very well that night.

And later on I decided to take up driving. So there was an ATS sergeant instructor, female, and we had six weeks. And there were 3 of us, all in the van with her, so we were together for six weeks. We saw each other鈥檚 mistakes and everything else, yes, but it was lovely because we stopped for a cup of tea here and there, it was really great. And then we took our test, of course very nervous, and then we got our own vans which were small, jeep-like vans you know, I think mine was JJO something. My sister often says I can remember you coming in your van into the farmyard, and all the poor chickens would fly she said! She said he used to call you that mad driver but you never think in those days about what could happen when you are a teenager, you don鈥檛. Now, once you are a mother and you鈥檝e got children, you think of everything, and that鈥檚 teenagers for you isn鈥檛 it.
So when I was around collecting my petrol once I met this young man, it didn鈥檛 turn out, you actually think your heart鈥檚 broken at the time, so I decided the best thing was to jack it all in and start another career.
So I left (by that time the war was over of course), but we were still working for the agricultural committees. So I just left, and I went to Horton General in Banbury and started my nursing training. And it was only because I thought I was heartbroken and I thought well, I am going to leave.
And about three months later my sister joined me, she wanted a change as well, and of course that鈥檚 another story.
So now I am just off 80 years, Georgina鈥檚 78, but you know when we get on the phone, we still talk a lot about those days.

Neville Usher: Where did you meet your husband now?

Joan Copson: Ah, that鈥檚 a different story. I met him in the Bull Ring in Birmingham.

Neville Usher: Not in Bicester?

Joan Copson: No, no, no! He wasn鈥檛 here at all during that time, no. So you know that鈥檚 just six years, or six to seven years of my life, not very interesting, but it was crammed together.

Neville Usher: But in a way, did it seem better because you were younger?

Joan Copson: Oh yes of course. The work didn鈥檛 seem that hard, nothing. And you just, you know, nothing worried you and you just fell in and out of love all the time, not anything really serious but a couple of serious affairs I had.

Neville Usher: And so many people coming and going, as you say all the time.

Joan Copson: All the time, and even I guess some of those boys very likely had their own girls at home.

Neville Usher: Are you in touch with any landgirls that you were with?

Joan Copson: No, no I am not. I was thinking about them but you see I don鈥檛 use computers or anything. No, I often think about them because I can remember Little Dot. Soon after I broke up with the boyfriend, he was the best friend of her husband, and they went up north to get married and they invited me but I couldn鈥檛 face it so I didn鈥檛 go. I often feel guilty about that, but there鈥檚 no good worrying about it, so many things happened in wartime didn鈥檛 they.

Neville Usher: But that鈥檚 fascinating because that鈥檚 a completely different war, everybody鈥檚 war was so different.
Formally on behalf of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the Stratford Society, thank you very much.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.