大象传媒

Jack of all trades

Mrs G. Scott feeding lambs, 1941 © G. Scott

“I arrived at Lincoln station on a cold afternoon in March 1940. I was a seventeen-year old girl, carrying a suitcase, a pair of Wellingtons with a gas mask case slung over my shoulder. I was on my way to Market Raesen. I had previously worked as a shop assistant in a suburb of London and it was all new to me, the countryside. I was trained for six weeks at Boreham Agricultural College on how to drive, care and maintain a Fordson Tractor. The wages were low, only 30 shillings a week and out of that I had to pay 15 shillings for my lodgings. The work was hard and the days long. I was the only WLA girl on the farm and due to my lack of knowledge about country ways, a bit of a novelty and the butt of many jokes. I was, however, soon accepted as part of the community.”

Mrs G. Scott & Dolly, 1940 © G. Scott

“I had some horrible jobs to do like fetching coal and water for that monster the threshing machine. Particularly in the winter, the work was not very enjoyable and neither was removing all the residue crops left over from the summer harvest. Many of the crops during the cold winter months were frozen into the ground and you had to pull them out with your hands. The better times were when I was with a horse, like Dolly shown in the picture. Here I could spend all day in the fields following the ploughman. It was not all work however; during the winter evenings there were dances, socials and whist drives in the village hall. On Saturday evenings we would go on our bikes to the local cinema. This was followed by a fish and chip supper.”