大象传媒

35 鈥� Pamela Richards joined the Women鈥檚 Land Army when she was 17, felling trees in the Timber Corps:

鈥淎s a girl I came to live in Southsea having been in Canada during the thirties. I have forgotten what I did until I was about 17, then I was conscripted, I had to do war work, so I chose the Land Army. I was in the Land Army for about a year and I decided as I loved trees, I would like to go into the Timber Corps; it is the same as the Land Army, it鈥檚 just a section of it, and that was in Dartington Hall, in Oakhampton.

I had a fabulous time with the Americans. We used to make pit props for the mines, and it was all beautiful trees, absolutely heavenly, all these lovely fir trees, and then we used to make charcoal, and one day a twit of a girl was felling a tree. I used to use a 7lb axe, and I was only 6 stone 12. We had a cross cut saw, a bill hook and a bow saw 鈥� I had my hand cut with a bow saw. Anyway, this girl was out there with an axe- there was a certain way you had to swing this axe, you had to hold it at the top and let your hands fall down the shaft you see, to get the force on the tree 鈥� and she called 鈥渢imber!鈥� a bit late. I was wedged in this tree and her tree clobbered it, missed me, inches, I mean it was the most frightening thing of my life, so that was nice.

We cut the trees down, and then it was done with a cross cut because they weren鈥檛 big you see, the pit props, but it was a 7 lb axe, it was quite a lot for girls to do, and I got rheumatism sitting down in the lorries, we used to sit on the back. But we had a lovely time. We didn鈥檛 live in Dartington, no we had digs of some kind, and then I lived way out in the country, and en route there was an army camp, an American army camp, and as you are so fearless when you are young I used to walk all the way home without a light anywhere, past this camp. I don鈥檛 know, you couldn鈥檛 do it (today) as you get鈥ven in my twenties I wouldn鈥檛 have done it, but I had no buses or anything, I used to walk round these high hills all through the country to get to my digs, but as I say when you are young you do these things 鈥� I survived.

I was there about four years I think, and then I went to Gloucester. I worked for Boots the Chemists, I was a window dresser. I picked Gloucester on the map: I am fed up here, I am off, so I鈥� It was very naughty of me you know, I didn鈥檛 even tell my manager I was going, so they probably had a search party 鈥� where is she? It must have been terrible, you don鈥檛 think when you are young. Anyway I chose Gloucester rather than London, and I got a job that day, and digs, and I worked at Quedgley RAF unit, supplying nuts and bolts for the RAF. The war was still on, as I was conscripted into war work, not a job I would have chosen. I think it was about a year before the war ended, or it might have been after the war - there were still these Italian prisoners, so it must have been at the very, very tail end of it mustn鈥檛 it? Incidentally I was Queen of Qedgley also Queen of Gloucester while I worked there, rather nice!

I used to get fed up: I鈥檓 going home, so I would go out and flag a lorry, but you never had any fear, you know, you were quite safe in those days, and they used to take me into Gloucester. Anyway I was hauled up in front of all the dignitaries, the RSM, the uniforms, in a long table you know: yes Miss Brooks, please come in, and you have been skiving off, you have been going home? Yes I am afraid so. So the Captain in the middle of the table; I don鈥檛 know, go on off, you pretty ones get away with it. So that was one very happy experience.

But what happened then? I think I met my husband; he was stationed in Teignmouth, the Royal Marines, because he was in the Special Boat Service of the Royal Marines. He was a Lieutenant, and he got the DSC, and did some very, very hazardous missions, in fact his was the only Unit that brought all its men back, it was the most successful of the (limpet mine) raids (on the Italian navy). Better than even Colonel Hasler the one before 鈥� it鈥檚 always the first one that鈥檚 great news and they forget about the others.
I knew him in Teignmouth where we lived, my father took us to Oldham because there was an invasion during the war and he took us from Teignmouth up to Oldham, and we arrived in Oldham when Manchester had the worst blitz and the whole sky was red I remember, the very night we arrived that was our welcome,; anyway we didn鈥檛 stay there very long, and coming back, that鈥檚 when I married my husband, and that鈥檚 about it.
He died about 13 years ago, and now I live and work in Stratford, which I love; my daughter lives in Ilmington, then my other daughter lives in Oxford, and my son lives at home with me, so I am very, very fortunate, yes I am.鈥�

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