大象传媒

This contribution to People鈥檚 War was received by the Action Desk at 大象传媒 Radio Norfolk and submitted to the website with the permission and on behalf Pam Warnes

My eleven years in the Norfolk Woman鈥檚 Land Army included good times as well as those not so good. Sometimes it鈥檚 hard to recall events or to place them in chronological order, but a few things remain as vivid as ever even after sixty or so years.

While I was in my second posting working for Mr and Mrs Oldring in Tivetshall I lodged for about three years with Mr and Mrs Trudgill in Great Moulton. The Oldrings had land close to Tibenham Airfield and I have very clear memories of standing in the fields there watching, with some awe, the droning formation of American Liberator bombers flying overhead off to their missions. I did the now clich茅d thing of counting them as they went out and counting them again when they came home. I well remember the stomach churning sadness when the figures didn鈥檛 tally or when plumes of black smoke indicated that not everyone had made it safely back.
Often one or two of the bombers limped back after being damaged in combat and crashed before making it safely back to the airfield. In some ways these were the most heartbreaking 鈥� to almost make it home and then lose their lives.

There were however lighter moments and the one concerning the chicken has stayed firmly in my memory:
One of my land Army friends during my time at Tvetshall was Kathy Pitchers who lived with her Grandmother in Gissing. We used to go about together on our days off, we were both quite 鈥渜uiet鈥� girls and our social life was certainly not exciting, certainly nothing like the lives of fictional Land Army girls which have been portrayed in recent films!
One Saturday evening (it must have been either in the Autumn or Winter) Kathy and I decided to cycle into Diss to the Service Club. There we would have a few drinks (of tea!), meet other young people and perhaps have a laugh and a joke before cycling back. This particular night turned out to be very different because we got talking to a young American airman; we shall call him Joe because actually I can鈥檛 remember his name (it was over 60 years ago!) Considering I was quite shy then and Kathy had previously found it difficult to talk to any young men and regarded Americans with deep suspicion, Joe must have been a reasonable sort of a chap because, an amazing event we all agreed to go to Diss cinema.
Strangely I do remember that the film we saw that evening was 鈥淩osemarie鈥�, starring Jeanette Macdonald, Nelson Eddy and James Stewart. An American musical where 鈥渢he singing Mountie gets his man鈥�. I remember that we certainly DID NOT sit on the back row and Joe behaved impeccably sitting between two of England鈥檚 finest.

Joe had a bike too, so after the film he offered to escort us both home riding along the four or five miles of dark lanes to Kathy鈥檚 home in Gissing. When we got there I was convinced Joe was interested my friend and so, to avoid being a gooseberry I quickly said my 鈥済oodbyes鈥� and set off to bike the remaining two miles to Moulton. Imagine my surprise when I realised that Joe was hurriedly following after me, when he caught me up we rode along in silence side by side on our bikes until we reached my landlady鈥檚 gate. Then he rather embarrassedly thrust a paper bag into my hands and asked whether he could see me again. I didn鈥檛 remotely 鈥渇ancy鈥� Joe and thus made some sort of feeble excuse why we couldn鈥檛 meet again, poor Joe, he jumped on his bike and scurried off into the night and never seen again (not literally I hope!)

Confused and embarrassed after this encounter I crept into my landlady鈥檚 house, luckily everyone was in bed. It was only then that I remembered the paper bag. I looked in to it and to my absolute horror found an 鈥渁ll American鈥� oven ready chicken! In days of rationing a chicken was like a gift from the gods 鈥� a luxury item which many people would almost kill for. Immediately I was thrown into complete confusion, what on earth could I do with this chicken? Despite having received it in the most innocent of circumstances I felt that no one, especially my landlady would believe that this was a totally innocent present. My reputation was very important to me and these were very different times from today. The Americans with their smart uniforms, money and food were regarded as quite an attraction by the local population of young women deprived of access to home grown talent, but these young Americans were very resented by some of the locals.

I lay awake all night, the chicken hidden under my bed. I knew I couldn鈥檛 leave it under my bed anymore than I could waste such a luxury although I had no means of cooking it. By the morning I had hatched a plan. After breakfast I set off, with the chicken concealed about my person, to bike to my previous landlady who lived in New Buckenham. She had a very different attitude to Americans than others in the area, her Husband was abroad fighting and she often opened her home to young soldiers and airmen who were thousands of miles away from their own family and friends. She gave them tea, a small bit of family life and said she hoped people abroad would treat her Husband in the same way.
She was absolutely delighted to receive the chicken from me and did not question the validity of my explanations. So at last the chicken had a good home, but the ironic part was that its new owner couldn鈥檛 cook until the next day, this was a Monday, a day when I would be at work and as a consequence I never even got one tasty morsel. Unfortunately therefore neither Joe nor I derived any benefit from this chicken, but I鈥檓 sure it was one of the tastiest ever!!

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