大象传媒

I was born in 1927 so I was 12 when the war started. My father was a steel worker but also an air raid warden. I used to go around with him, round the streets. If there was a chink of light, he鈥檇 knock and say 鈥淧ut that light out!鈥� People did, they were very conscious that a bit of light could attract the planes. We lived in Thornaby, and they鈥檇 built a brick air-raid shelter in the street, and my father made four bunks and put them in, and every night we鈥檇 go into it. People used to bring food and drinks, and we鈥檇 have a sing song. The war didn鈥檛 really touch me then, it was all exciting. It was something different. Looking back now, I鈥檓 thinking, a brick shelter wouldn鈥檛 have been much protection of anything coming by. One night we were in there, and that was the night that our aeroplanes had gone out and bombed somewhere, and when they came back a German had followed them in, and dropped something like a land mine somewhere up near the airfield. My mother said 鈥渢here鈥檚 some poor woman鈥檚 windows gone in,鈥� which happened to a lot of people, but it was actually the bomb, it had dropped somewhere near Thornaby road. And as time went on, I left school at 14, and the first thing my father did was take me down to the bank and open an account, which got me into saving. Then I got a job 鈥� I was an usherette at the globe, but you had to do two nights鈥� firewatching on the roof 鈥� nothing ever happened, but everybody had to put in. In those days you never locked your door, neighbours would pop in, and it was an extended family: mam, dad, me my sister and brother, then an aunt and uncle down the street. It was a really extended family, if your mam wasn鈥檛 in, you鈥檇 go across the road or down the street. It鈥檚 awful that all that鈥檚 been lost. It鈥檚 sad that children can鈥檛 go out nowadays like we can.
Also, back then, you could whip up a meal from next to nothing. We had a big garden, the railings had been taken for the war effort, but we had potatoes, veg and everything like that. Everybody did it. We were never short of food, and my dad was a hard worker. I liked being an usherette, but one day I was working I was talking to a friend of mine and she鈥檇 joined the Land Army 鈥� she said 鈥渟he鈥檚 an idiot, because she knows nothing about the land.鈥� I thought 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 mind that,鈥� so I wrote off to ask about it. I was 16 but you weren鈥檛 supposed to join until you were 17, but eventually they took me and I spent three and a half years there. They trained me up to do various jobs, I came back and I was in Guisborough, there was about 15 of us, all Land Girls, and the farmer would let us know what he wanted per day.
We lived in a hostel, first time away from home, but the matron was very strict. You took your packed lunch with you 鈥� summers were lovely, but the winter was very hard. I liked being outdoors though. They had a threshing machine: on the top there was the band cutter, which was me, and as they tossed the sheaves up you cut them and then fed them into this hole, and the bags at the bottom had the chaff and the corn in. The farmer鈥檚 wife gave you your dinner at threshing time. You got your dinner on a huge plate, piled high, and when you were finished with that, you rubbed your plate round with a piece of bread and then they served your pudding on it! Of course, at that time, the Americans were there, and they used to hold these dances. We were thrilled to bits! They had a PX (canteen) and all of these things they got sent from America, silk stockings and things like that. Everyone else was older than me but they used to look after me. I used to go and see my mam and Dad at the weekend and take them farm produce, so I鈥檇 take that, and my Dad was still working as a steel worker. They used to drink beer like there was no tomorrow!
I can鈥檛 say I was ever starved or anything like that, we had good food in the hostel and on the farm. After about 12 months I went to another village, you couldn鈥檛 pick and choose where you went, because a farmer wanted a permanent land girl. The farmer was ok, but his wife was very peculiar. We only went there on days as I managed to get lodgings in the village. It wasn鈥檛 bad, but there were also German POWs and they used to come in a big bus, and this woman, this farmer鈥檚 wife, when it came to lunchtime, they went and had it in the farmhouse but we had to have ours in the barn! Obviously she didn鈥檛 like land girls.
The woman I lived with was widowed and used to give me bacon for my breakfast, and it was very fatty and salty because people used to make it themselves 鈥� it鈥檚 a wonder it didn鈥檛 kill us all! But apart from that we ate well, and we ate good food. Everybody was healthy and nothing was added to food, you knew exactly what was in it. When I used to come home to Stockton High Street, we鈥檇 go shopping, and at the bottom end there was two big white tents with kerosene lamps hanging from the roof. They did pies and peas, and faggots and peas, everything had mushy peas served with it. They had wooden trestles down each side, and you sat there and got your bowl of faggots and peas, and that was a treat for a lot of people.
I enjoyed my time as a land girl, it was hard work, but it鈥檚 something which stands you in good stead. The most peculiar thing is 鈥� I was out there in all weathers but I never once got a cold.

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