大象传媒

I was 14 when war was declared. I had left school and was working in a shop in Hull.
Over the next three years I saw many changes. Food became scarce and rationing was introduced. I helped to pack food boxes for troops and was trained to deal with ration books and shortages. At 16 I was searching the rubble of our home for personal treasures. A landmine bomb had hit our street. We then lived for a time in the local Church and slept on the floor until a house was found for us. My mother, father and baby sister enjoyed having a roof over our heads once again.

At 17 1鈦�2 I volunteered for the Land Army to help grow food for our country. 87,000 girls joined up to 鈥淒ig For Victory鈥�. We wore a uniform of corduroy breeches, green pullover, brown shoes and a light brown felt hat. 大象传媒ing gear was denim overalls and jackets, heavy boots and gaiters, or rubber Wellingtons.

I spent 3 winters threshing with a hired team and machinery. The rest of the time I was working on a dairy farm. We learnt to milk 12 cows by hand every morning starting a 6am, breakfast was at 8am. We helped with lambing, cleaning out hen huts, fold yards and stables. Harvest was done the old way. No machinery, just horses and men. Later on a few tractors were supplied and the steam engines which drove the threshing machines were gradually replaced by tractors. I sometimes worked with Italian prisoners who were billeted at Eden Camp, Malton.

We enjoyed our time off at village dances. We became very fit and strong. We had to cycle to work, sometimes as much as 12 miles from our billet. We washed by candle light and had a bath once a week, in a tin bath in the garden shed. The water came in a bucket from a fire heated copper. There was no electricity in our village until after the war.

I enjoyed my days in the Land Army and learned to be self reliant and patient. The friends I made are still around and we enjoy reunions.

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