大象传媒

'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Gwilym Scourfield of the County Heritage Team on behalf of Joan Clifford and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

The Land Army: What it was Really Like

Much has been written about The Land Army 鈥� not all of it very truthfully. I thought my reminiscences might help balance things up a bit. I was there and what follows did really happen!

When the war began I was a trained secretary working close to my London home where I lived with my parents. I was a born and bred 鈥楥ity Girl鈥�, but I had always preferred the countryside. I had always loved animals of all kinds and had no fears about handling them. I was put on the Reserved Occupation list in 1939, though not conscripted until 1942. When interviewed I made my desire to join the Women鈥檚 Land Army clear. Eventually I had the medical and the first instalment of the uniform: two short-sleeved shirts, a green pullover, two pairs of socks, shoes, a grey bib and brace overall, a hat, rubber boots and a long, thin mac that reached the ankles. This was in November! Most of our clothing coupons had to be used, but we had to supply underclothes. The rest of the uniform, including a greatcoat and breeches, came over the next six months. Later we got the chance to buy secondhand clothing from the W.L.A. Office.

Intensive training in Dairy and general farm work started on 2nd November at Sparsholt Training Institute. My number was 0101337. I still have the call up papers with the travel warrant, details of transport etc. It stated, 鈥淒uring training, board and lodging will be provided free and in addition a personal allowance of 10/- (50p)/week, less National Health and Unemployment Insurance contributions will be paid during training.鈥�

An open lorry met the six of us from London and other girls from other areas at Winchester station. Six women shared each dormitory, us Londoners were kept together. We were up at 5.00 am and allowed a cup of cold milk before milking. We were taught to hand and machine milk. Most was done under cover in the cow shed, but I had to milk one out in an open pen. It was very cold and frosty. We had to clean the cowshed out with some of the largest, heaviest buckets and brooms I have ever used.

I had to call the cows in one dark morning. I could just see one that wouldn鈥檛 come to my call right at the top of the hill. Going out to investigate, I felt so stupid; - I had been calling a bush! No one at Sparsholt ever let me forget that!

Food was scarce 鈥� a pot of jam had to last a month. Sugar, butter and margarine rations were meagre, seldom lasting the week. Treats, like Marmite, were rare and treasured. We always seemed to be so hungry.

After four weeks, we had one day of leave before reporting to our delegated farms. My first visit to Banbury was wonderful 鈥攑lenty of food, a comfortable billet and made to feel very much 鈥榓t home鈥�. Starting at six am I had to do a milk round, the farm work was to be afternoons. I had only ever driven a bumper car at the fair! I soon learned. The van had no hooter, very poor brakes and I had to negotiate Banbury Market Place on a Thursday. They nicknamed me 鈥楾he Yellow Peril鈥�. One day I was delivering with two heavy crates. A very large police officer told me I couldn鈥檛 put my van where I had parked it. I told him that if he would carry the crates, I would park it wherever he wanted. Faced with a very angry, busy woman, he had the sense to back down.

I was underpaid 10/- one week. Somehow their error had to be met by me losing 5/- a week in my wages. Their mistakes were never rectified鈥nd I had to pay my weekly rent out of that money.

After a year in Banbury, I went to a farm owned by an eccentric lady. I discovered later I was her 26th land girl! I don鈥檛 know how, but I survived a whole year. She had two enormous sows, - luscious Lucy and Gracious Grace.; (My names for them were very different!) I took over an hour recovering them from a gorse field into which they had escaped, - a very prickly experience. On another night, at ten pm, my night drink was interrupted by the lady wanting me to help get Lucy back into the sty. My task was to hold the piglets whilst she drove the sow towards me.
鈥淪he鈥檒l go for me if she hears this one squealing,鈥� I protested.
鈥淣o she won鈥檛.鈥� The sow thundered towards me, as I had predicted, in response to her piglet鈥檚 squeals. I dropped it and only just managed to clear a 5鈥�6鈥� fence, my Wellingtons ever after bearing her angry teeth marks! Driving my employer into Banbury in full best uniform I soon realised why she couldn鈥檛 keep Land Girls.

My next posting saw me looking after three huge horses, - Prince, Bluebird and Colt. They had to be fetched in from the field every morning. I had halters on two, but Bluebird just wouldn鈥檛 come. I had hold of a horse either side of me when, ears back, he decided to charge. He was almost on top of me when I instinctively threw up my arms and shouted, 鈥漇cram!鈥� To his surprise (and mine!) he skidded to a stop. He followed us into the village, too. The farmer wasn鈥檛 surprised when I told him.
鈥淏ut why didn鈥檛 you warn me?鈥� I said.
鈥淚f I had told you before, you wouldn鈥檛 have fetched him, would you?鈥�

One day a bull got out and into the cowshed. I managed to shut the door to prevent his escape into the village, but as I tried to get hold of the chain fastened to his nose ring I found I had pulled him back into his own pen with my back to its wall! It was some time before my heart stopped racing.

I worked with Toto and Antonio, Italian prisoners of war. They were good workers, though I shouldn鈥檛 have been unaccompanied with them. We taught each other鈥檚 language and traded scarce resources, - lighter flints for cakes. One day I was on a hayrick with Antonio whilst Toto unloaded hay. For some unknown reason, the horse bolted. I shall never forget the sight of Toto jumping up, then disappearing into the hay. He kept re-appearing and disappearing, shouting out something in Italian. It was so funny 鈥� a farmyard Jack-in-the-Box!

One field we crossed with the hay was in 鈥榣ands鈥� (ridge and furrow ploughed). The farmer warned Antonio always to cross this head on. He forgot and went sideways. I was following the cart as it tipped over burying the farmer in a load of hay. We had to dig him out quickly because he had asthma. I was terrified when he had an asthma attack. I thought he would die. Luckily we galloped back to the village with him on the floor of a pony and float.

On another occasion I borrowed a coat from a scarecrow during a heavy downpour. Well, I needed it more than he!

They didn鈥檛 teach me about hurricane lamps in London. I saw the farmer had left one alight and turned down the wick to put it out. My name was mud next day. The farmer had no other light in the cowshed and spent half an hour at five in the morning trying to coax up the wick with a pin.

I harrowed up a dead hen one day. A fox had killed and buried it. The farmer鈥檚 wife sold it to me for 10/-. Meat was precious then!

We had no combines. The stationary threshing machines were filthy. You got dust in everywhere and straw itched and scratched inside your clothes. I once fed hay into a stationary baler until eleven at night for several weeks. I was so near to a breakdown from exhaustion that the WLA sent me to Torquay to recover in a rest home.

I met my husband while working on that farm. His farm was adjacent. On our rare nights off we would cycle the seven miles to Banbury to the cinema along the blacked out lanes. After we married I worked in the Land army on my husband鈥檚 farm.

I learned to use a shotgun and killed rabbits following the binder. We bagged forty one day and sold them for half a crown each. The Land Army was good training for being a farmer鈥檚 wife. We had a few reunions. Many of the girls married farmers. Some are bitter that though we were 鈥榗alled up鈥� and served the country like the ATS, there have never been any benefits or gratuities like our fellow services. There鈥檚 no doubt that my lifelong severe back problems can be put down to carrying two and a quarter hundredweight sacks of meal and corn (284lbs). For several years I have tried different government departments for recognition or compensation. All in vain. They say I wasn鈥檛 called up 鈥� I WAS. They say I was not in the forces, I WAS. They conceded were not civilians.

A letter received from The Ministry of Agriculture says, 鈥︹�滻 can appreciate your concern that the decision the Government took in 1945 not to confer official recognition upon the Women鈥檚 Land Army has caused women conscripts, who chose to serve in the WLA to be treated less favourably for the purposes of entitlement to War Pension than their counterparts who chose to serve in the Armed Forces. While the Government recognises the valuable contribution members of the WLA made to the War Effort, it has no plans to review that decision.鈥� Some of the members of the WLA have lost limbs or, like me, suffered permanent health problems. Can you wonder that many are bitter?

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