大象传媒

This story was added to the 大象传媒 People's War website by Helen Jubb, 大象传媒 Radio Leeds, on behalf of the contributor, Mildred Holdsworth, with her permission.

We were called up at twenty, had to do something to help win the war. Being fond of the countryside I chose the Women鈥檚 Land Army. I had a choice of three different sections, Forestry, Pest Extermination, (rat catchers), or general farm work. I chose the latter. I reported to headquarters at Harrogate and was sent for a month鈥檚 training on a farm near Malton. Putting on my uniform for the first time, breeches, green pullover, long woolly ribbed socks and heavy brown lace up shoes. I thought I looked like a cowboy as I pulled on the felt hat provided. The small farm I went to took in land girls to give them a bit of experience. I was taught how to hand-milk a cow (avoiding its back foot in the bucket), take the result to the dairy and pour it through the cooler. It looked like a metal wash board, then back to the cow shed to clean all the muck after unchaining the cows (never been so close to one before), and sending them out onto the fields.

The accommodation for myself was interesting, I had to share a four poster bed with the resident maid, the bed contained a deep-feathered mattress鈥攏ice and cosy! I learnt to plant potatoes, sacks of seed spuds round the neck, bend down and place one in front of your boot, step forward and repeat. We fed the calves on powdered milk, putting one hand in the bucket for the calf to suck your fingers, such deception. Feeding the pigs with buckets of swillready steamed in a large container smelling awful.

Threshing was a big day, neighbouring farms lent their men to help with the work. The threshing machine and steam engine was provided by the Corrigan brothers, who were the Scarborough fun fair folks. I had the job of carrying the waste product, called chaff. It blew out of the back of the machine where we collected in a large sack. All the spikes and bits of chopped straw clung to our clothes and made us itch, never wear a woolly on that job.

The farmer got a bit cheeky in the hay barn so I was glad when my month was up. He said I was dirty in the house, leaving bits of straw on the stairs! His wife baked tasty pies though, and I had plenty to eat.

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