大象传媒

We all left school at 14 in those days and we went to work in the factories. There were so many factories in Ipswich, you could take your pick. I was at William Pretty鈥檚 and when the war started we could volunteer for the army, the navy, the airforce or the land army. My friend and I went to the land army headquarters which was above The Walk in Ipswich. It was run by Miss Sunderland-Taylor. We were issued with uniform and sent to all different parts. I was stationed at Foxhall Hall farm run by Colonel Young. I was there about 3 and a half years doing all types of work from tractor driving, to temporary milking, sugar beet, potato picking, harvest. We didn鈥檛 get paid very much, I think it was about 18 shillings a week but sometimes we were allowed to go on piece work for things like potato picking so we could earn some extra that way. After Foxhall I went to work at Hasketon Manor where I worked as part of a gang. We used to get so tanned in the summer, people used to envy us. It was very rewarding work but we never had any official recognition afterwards. Some of the girls came from Yorkshire, others from London. The Londoners didn鈥檛 know the difference between a cow and a bull! Sometimes we鈥檇 go to local dances or the pub in the evening if we weren鈥檛 too tired. We all had 鈥渨ar ag鈥� bikes so when I was at Hasketon we鈥檇 go into Woodbridge in the evening to the YMCAs and the Naffee. It used to be cheaper to go to a dance if you were wearing uniform, so we used to take our civilian clothes and change when we鈥檇 got inside.

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