´óÏó´«Ã½

The Good Old Days: my life in the Land Army

This is a story told by my mother about her life in the Land Army and submitted by me.

I was eighteen when I joined up, one lunchtime when I was unhappy with everything in Birmingham. After I had passed the medical, it was time to go and get the train. On the platform at New Street Station, I wondered if I had made the right decision. Arriving at the platform there were a few other girls going to the same place. They were nervous like me. I joined them and we all got on to the train.
We stayed first at a hostel where we were given our uniforms and received out training. The uniforms included shirts, jumpers, shoes , boots and trousers. After our training I was stationed between Leamington and Banbury. It was a lovely big house. There were about twenty girls there. During our first week we needed to learn how to ride a bike so that we could get to the farms. I had never owned a bike, nor been on one. I could see myself having to leave. However, three girls I had made friends with took me out one night to learn to ride. ‘Look at that plane’ they said, pointing to the sky. ‘Tell me what it looks like’ I said, staring in front of me. Suddenly they were nowhere to be seen. I panicked. ‘Which brake do I pull up?’ I pulled the wrong one and I went right over the handlebars. I landed with a bang in the road. My mouth was covered with blood as I rushed to the nearest house. The lady was very helpful. She gave me some tea and cleaned my face. It was a few days before I could go to work. After that, I learnt how to ride a bike, and clean it, which I had to do every week.
We had to be up early next morning to travel to work at different farms. Although the work was hard, it was very enjoyable. I liked it especially at harvest time, working in the fields. In the winter we did other jobs. There were some funny times like when I went to a farm on my own. The farmer took me to see Charlie the bull. I had to feed him. ‘He won’t hurt you’ the farmer said, ‘he’s only a baby’. Well, he was like the side of a house. After the farmer had left me I stood on the gate and tried to put Charlie’s food into a trough. Instead, it went all over his head. The farmer was behind me. He was in stitches laughing.
Another job was to untie two dogs. One was small and the other, Rim, was very large. He was a really nice dog. One day I was eating my lunch, which was a large bacon sandwich, when I heard Rim barking. The cows had escaped from the field. However, we managed to get them back.
On a different farm there was a farmer with a bad temper. He was always miserable. He showed me how to harrow a field with a big cart horse. After he had left I thought that it was easy. All of a sudden, the horse fell over with his foot caught in the ropes. The farmer wasn’t very happy. He soon got the horse up but I didn’t go back to work there again.
I was also in trouble at the hostel. I was working in the grounds with another girl, a friend called Nobby, who liked to smoke. She said that she’d love a cigarette but they were in the house. We sneaked into the bedroom but soon heard footsteps outside the door-the warden! She was a real battleaxe. We both hid in the wardrobes. ‘What are you doing there?’ she said. ‘Looking for something’ I said. My friend only stopped herself from laughing by stuffing a coat sleeve up her mouth. Well, I had to clean all the windows. Nobby didn’t get caught!
It was great fun at the hostel and we went to many dances as we had different forces close by. We were collected by an army truck and on the way back we would all sing. I stayed in the Land Army till after the war and on V.E. night there were lots of people in Leamington. We all joined hands and sang ‘Old Lang Syne’. I will never forget it. It was a great life. I still have friends today from the Land Army. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.