I realise this is neither Diss or Norfolk, but I have a bias as my Mum was a Land Girl!
There is a project being Run by Suffolk County Council on the Land Girls in WW2
Soil Sisters: Putting the Women’s Land Army on the map in Suffolk - Suffolk Archives
The Woman’s Land Army
Originally formed in World War One to replace the men on the Farms who had gone to fight.
It was reformed in June 1939, and disbanded in October 1950.
Their Jobs were very varied, and covered any work on the Farms that the Farmers would do.
They were one of the very few services that wore the Kings Crown and had very distinctive Uniform.
The work covered the following
Looking after all types of Animals including, Pigs, Goats, Chickens (and other Birds), Bulls, Horses and cows, which they also used to milk, and various other animals.
Hedging and Ditching, which would involve clearing fields and scrubland, often by hand, to created more farmland for growing and grazing of Animals.
Hay Making
Black Smiths, making Horse shores and parts for Farming Equipment.
Driving, Tractors, Lorries, Steam traction Engines.
Working on Threshing Machines.
Ploughing, using both Horse and mechanical power.
Mechanical Diggers for creating ditches and lifting tree stumps.
Pest Control, (Rat catching). Imaging the damage rats could do in a barn full of fresh corn and hay.
Planting & Picking Fruit and Vegetables such as Brussel sprouts, (Land Girls would suffer from frostbite, having to pick these at 05-00 hrs on a winters morning), Apple’s, Beans, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peas, Carrots, Leaks, Cabbages, Parsnips and various other fruits.
A spin off from the Land Army was the Timber Corps.
These girls had a uniform very like the Land Army, but wore a Green hat with a separate Badge.
They were responsible for all forms of Forestry work, including Lumberjacks, and were known as `Lumber or Timber Jill’s`.
It was not all work, and the Land Army in both Devon and Surrey had their own very successful football teams.
There are many books on the Land Army.
The girls were known as the `Cinderella’s of the Soil`.
Finally, my Mum was a Land Girl!
When War broke out, Mum wanted to go into the Services, but as she was under 18 she needed her parent’s permission. My Granddad who had fought in WW1 and knew the Horrors of Warfare would not allow it. She eventually persuaded him to allow her to go into the Land Army. She was based at Bleak House in St Albans and worked in the farms and other areas which were turned over to farming, which included Hatfield House. The idyllic views of working out in the summer sunshine in the countryside, as shown in the Posters for Life in the Woman’s Land Army was a long way from working out in the early mornings in Winter ice and snow picking by hand, Brussel Sprouts! It was doing this back-breaking, stomach twisting work that damaged Mums back and she was invalided out.
She spent the last months of the war working for the London Co-operative Society in Poplar east London where she lived.
She spent the rest of her life with Back and Stomach Problems, which she blamed on picking Brussels by hand on freezing cold winters mornings!
She had learnt to drive a tractor, but as on private land she did not need a Licence, she never ever took her driving test or drove on Public Roads.
It would seem Mum had no worries about Bulls or Cows, but was rather freighted of…CHICKENS!!
Sadly some Land girls gave their lives being attacked by the Luftwaffe in open fields
The Land Girls were not originally recognised by the British Legion despite wearing the Kings Crown in their slouch hats, and it was the 21st century (2008) before the Government acknowledge their contribution to the county in time of war, but would not issue a medal, but instead a badge.
Mum died aged 88 in 2011, but for the last 6 years of her life she has Alzheimer's and for the last 6 months had to go into care and had no idea who I was.
R.J.Rogers
