大象传媒

Vera Campbell, age 87, resident of Eastleigh Nursing Home, Peterculter, Aberdeen:
Vera is from Milngavie and was called up when she was 19, going on 20. She chose to join the Land Army, as she particularly liked the outdoor life and gardening. She went to Craibstone Agricultural College and they trained in groups of 20 for 6 months.
They were assigned to farms in the Alford area. Usually, 2 girls went to each farm but Vera was on her own. She moved around a lot and remembers working at Candacraig (now the residence of Billy Connolly) which was then owned by Captain Wallace. His wife went out to visit him while serving abroad and, tragically, the boat was sunk.
Land girls usually stayed in the farm house and were fed very well - including "clootie dumplings" - as there was not so much rationing in the country.
It was a hard life, up at 4am, a full 7 day week caring for animals. She particularly did not like sheep and remembers walking a 6 mile round trip just to get them dipped. In winter, she picked a ton of Brussels sprouts and suffered very badly with chilblains.
She did not have much of a social life but every 6 months she went back to Milngavie to see her family. Vera rode a motorbike - a Norton 500cc - and the journey home took her along all the back roads, dripping "red" petrol. (Only 2 gallons of petrol were allowed per month.) She was a very keen motorbike enthusiast and could strip down her machine.
Eventually, Land Girls were replaced by Italian prisoners of war on the farms and, for the last one and a half years of the war, Vera moved into a new area, training girls to cultivate the fields around Aberdeen (Kaimhill, Bay of Nigg, Stewart Park), supplying British restaurants.
At the end of the war, her uniform of dungarees, breeches and wellington boots were handed over.
Unfortunately, she now has health problems, with back pain from heavy lifting - a lasting effect of her Land Army days.
Vera has contributed to "All Muck, No Medals: Land Girls by Land Girls" by Joan Mant.

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