大象传媒

I was born 1926 so was 13 when the war started. We were coming home from school in St Johns when I found out, but if didn't really have an impact at first.

When I was 14, my friend was going to be a nurse and I though "I'm going to be a Land Girl!"

Knockaloe Experimental Farm was a Prisoner of War camp in WW1 and in WW2 I went there to train for the Land Army.

Some POW were still there, and we worked with them - they were never any trouble.

When I first started we were in fields collecting stones, to enable the land to be sowed. We had various jobs, helping farmers. We even had to "thin turnips". This meant going on hands and knees, picking out some smaller turnip plants, to ensure you got fat turnips - if you left them in you'd end up with little radishes!.

I travelled to the farms mainly by bicycle, the farmers were good and gaveus a drink but we had to go to the loo over the hedge!
I finished in 1945 and went to work on another farm where I met my husband.

I had 5 brothers. Jackie didn't go to war -he was deemed better use on the farm ( no -one talked to him for a while - we thought he should be at war). Tommy and Freddie worked on the railway, Herbie was on a farm but was called up. Ginger was a blacksmith - he went onto Egypt to become a paratrooper.

My father who fought in WW1, drove a Steam Road Roller for the Isle of Man Highway Board. He laid and rolled Andreas Airport - North of the island using coal as hardcore.

They put 4 huge tanks under the ground at the airport keeping food and water in case another war broke out. They are still there to this day to my knowledge.

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