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MY SERVICE IN THE LAND ARMY

During the war years I was living in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and, when I reached call up age of 18 in 1944, I was working away from home as a Nursery Nurse in Droitwich. Rather than be called up into the women’s services or put to work in a factory, I decided that I would rather work on the land. This was with considerable resistance from my father who was a Telephone Engineering Inspector. (One of his remarks was "We did not educate you to become a glorified farmworker") I persisted and, with help from my mother, overcame this opposition. In July, 1944 I reported to the Land Army Headquarters in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury which was run by Lady Boyne who I met and I was fitted out with full uniform. The beginning of my four years in the service.

When I had been in the Land Army for a while, I discovered, in the basement of this building, that we could purchase additional second-hand garments for a very modest sum. I availed myself of this opportunity so that my best uniform was always clean and smart.

I was posted to the dairy farm of Mrs Rogers Coltman at Wentnor for about six weeks training. Before the war I had been brought up in Marlborough, Wiltshire and, for two years, in Hereford with no experience in the family of farming of any sort. There were several of us newcomers at the farm, I lodged with a cowman and his wife at a small cottage. One memory of that time was the earth closet at the bottom of the garden with sheets of the Farmer and Stockbroker for toilet paper; rather different to my previous experiences.

I learnt to milk on Jersey cows. They also had two Jersey bulls. One of these had apparently been ill treated by a man when a small calf and would not tolerate men. The girls were the only people who could handle it, taking it on a long pole to a tether in the field.

I remember taking some of the milk down into the cellars to put into the cream pans and we used to help ourselves to a small peach among those left for crystallising. You can guess that there were no lack of volunteers for this job. I also learnt to scythe on this farm. I was treated very well there and the food was good. An interesting outcome of this; in the mid 90’s, I unexpectedly met this farmer's wife after 52 years. She was in her eighty's and still as pleasant as all those many years ago.

When we were considered to be trained enough we were moved around various farms and, over my period in the WLA, I was at seven different farms, six in Shropshire and one in Wales. Most were good but two left a lot to be desired. At one, the men had the mistaken impression that the land girls were there for their sexual gratification and it took some persuasion that this was not the case. My parents would have been horrified if they had known that this was happening. Unfortunately the WLA representative did not seem to be around when this problem arose so one had to fight ones own fight.

On some postings, they seemed to consider land girls to be not much better than the beasts of the field. It was long hours and my best friend was an Italian prisoner of war. I used to milk 20 cows, night and morning, by hand; spent long hours whitewashing cowsheds; digging up potatoes by hand; spreading muck and topping and tailing mangolds; usually in frosty weather. If it was wet, putting a sack over your head and back with one round your body kept you warmer and drier than the issue macs. The one compensation there was a wonderful Sunday tea every week with cream and fruit with the best china. I was also confirmed in the local village church, in uniform, by the Bishop of Lichfield. Another daughter of the farm came back home and I was no longer needed.

Next, a farm near Bridgnorth with another girl called Barbara. Not a very good farm again; our dinner was mostly bread, gravy and turnips; an absolute pig of a farmer. We stuck it out for a while and then put in for a transfer. On the last night we went to a local dance and the farmer would not let us back in so we appealed to the adjoining farmer for a bed for the night. It turned out that the farmer we had been working for was not very popular in the village and the local people were very surprised that we had stuck it out for so long.

We were then posted to Mr. Peake's at Stoke St. Milborough. This was a super farm where we were treated as one of the family as also was the cowman and his wife. At this farm I was taught as a waggoner with two shire horses, Captain and Major, and a Clydesdale, Bessie as a trace horse. As I was only just over five foot tall, I had to stand in the manger to get the collar over their heads. I loved working with the shires, they were so gentle. I was also milking cows with a machine and milking goats. They had three youngish boys in the family who also had to do their share of work. If we had been harvesting or working very hard, Mr Peake used to say "hurry and finish - I have booked seats in the local cinema". We all (nine of us) squashed into an old Ford van and went to the pictures. Quite a few similar treats were arranged for us whilst we were there. It really was a great place. One night Barbara and I were late home after a dance and climbed in a window. The farmer's wife was alarmed but Mr. Peake said "Don't worry, it is only the girls coming home".

One day the tups which had been separated from the ewes in their own field managed to get through their fence and strayed among the ewes of a neighbouring farm. We went off to get them back and, in our ignorance, put halters on them and tried to lead them back. We soon learnt that if you tried to lead sheep or rams from the front they just stuck their heels in and could not be moved. However, we soon found out that by getting behind them, seeing a clear way in front they were off. We were running like mad behind them, still holding the leads. They went back to the right farm but to the intense amusement of both farmers who just stood and watched the fun.

The Mr. Peake decided to sell up and move to LLanrhystud south of Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast. He asked if we would like to go with them; I accepted but Barbara who had a boy friend in Shropshire declined. So we moved to Wales to the farm, Pengarreg. When you finished work for the day you could go for a swim in the sea accompanied by seals. It was a lovely spot. You went upstairs to my bedroom but the window cill was level with the ground as the house was built into the hillside.

Mrs. Peake had to go to Manchester to take Stewart, her son, for a tonsil operation and I was left looking after her six week old baby Russell in the daytime, helping in the house and milking. I began to think that I would have made a good farmer's wife! There was also a mountain on the farm with very high fields to be worked. At different times of the year I had sunstroke and frostbite in these fields! Sometimes I also used to ride the Welsh cob into the village to get the bread. I also worked a bit with sheep. I had a bad fall from the cob one day and had to spend some time at home. I still suffer from the injury to my spine sustained by this accident.

Later I was posted to a farm at Oswestry. They had a farm and a milk round. Another girl used to do the round and I was in charge of the bottling and dairy work. I was working in a lot of water because of all the hosing down. Eventually, my ankle and back suffered and I had to leave.

The WLA representative visited me at home and decided that it would be better if I went back on outside work and asked me if I would like to go to work at Radbrook College farm and live at home. I welcomed this and it was so near to home I could cycle to work. At the college there was a young couple, Richard and Jean, who had only started there a month before me. There was an old horse on the farm that had been badly ill treated and the dairy side was very run down. The college was going to start courses in dairy and poultry work. Richard, the farm manager, and I were there to back up the two teachers who had been employed for this.

I spent over a year at the college doing this work and then the WLA offered me a scholarship to go into the college for a year's tuition in domestic science, dairy and poultry work. This was in September 1948 and I was, as far as I know, the only land girl in the county to be offered such a chance and I jumped at it.

So, in a lot of respects, I fared much better than some of the girls in the WLA. I did not continue with country work after leaving the service but soon joined a rambling group and retained an interest in country matters progressing later to camping and then to caravanning. I do not remember ever receiving a copy of ‘LANDGIRL’. Maybe it was because I was, for most of the time, with no other landgirls.

Norah M Walls (nee Lewis)

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