大象传媒

This story was told to Christine Pearce of Neath Port Talbot Libraries by Mrs. Kathleen Hull of Baglan, Port Talbot and added to the site with her permission.

I was born in Plymouth in the 1920鈥檚 and later moved to Exeter where we were bombed out. This was a terrible night and as a result we were later evacuated to Budleigh Salterton. Many years later I ended up in the Land Army there and married a Welsh boy who was in the Air Force. His mother came over from Wales and worked for the farm people, living in a tied cottage, where I was also billeted.

Life in the Land Army was hard but a good life. We were up at 5.30 to get the cows in, which were then milked by hand, --- none of today鈥檚 machinery was available then but on a cold winter鈥檚 morning we were glad to feel the warmth of the cow against our bodies. After milking we had to clean up everywhere and then go to work in the fields. During haymaking I had the job of house-boy. This was not very pleasant as you had to get underneath everything to rake out the corn and the husks and a lot of bits went down your neck which irritated especially when you were hot and sweaty.

There wasn鈥檛 a lot of entertainment, mainly dances in village halls. We had to walk miles down country lanes if we wanted to go there or sometimes we could scrounge a bike. There were no luxuries, just good plain food and we didn鈥檛 have to worry about vandalism or walking alone in the country.

After the war I moved to Wales, to Tonyrefail and later to Aberafan , Port Talbot where we lived in the Steel Co. prefabs. With 3 children we became eligible for a council house and later moved to Baglan. I have settled happily in Wales as the Welsh people are very friendly. My brother and his wife still live in Devon but I would not wish to go back there now.

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