Land Girls
Landgirls
Bunty Smith, Lucy Boner, Dorothy Marsh (possibly local) nee Buckley
Marton le Moor Millenium Book 2000
Land Girls – occasional visits, the girls were collected by Sylvia’s father from their billets that were
close to Bridge Hewick and the racecourse, perhaps in the general vicinity of the so called tank
training hard standings. The billets were filled with three teer bunk bed accommodation.
Sylvia Foxton per comm..
The WLA hostel in Ripon was in Bondgate Green Lane and opened in the early 1940s.
The Imperial War Museum has two relevant collections viz
1. Catalogue no 5315: a small collection of press cuttings and photos (mainly photocopies) relating
to the WLA with specific reference to the Ripon hostel.
2.Catalogue no 3824: the private papers of Miss M Tetlow, some of which relate to her time at Ripon
Hostel between Nov 1943 and Jan 1944.
Have you any means of ready access to the IWM?
Apart from this, about the only thing I have so far on the WLA at Ripon is a press cutting from Surrey
in 2008 relating to a Joan Woods who was a Land Girl at Newby Hall. Very brief, but includes her
photo.
Kevin Earl
Claro Community Archaeology Group 2013
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/lifestyle/s/2031222_land_army_girls_get_just_rewards_63_years_o
n
From: ‘Get Surrey’
Land Army girls get just rewards 63 years on
By Nicola Hudson
July 02, 2008
THIS summer, thousands of women pensioners will be honoured by the Government for their work
in the First and Second World Wars.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), will recognise the efforts of the
Women’s Land Army (WLA) and Women’s Timber Corps (WTC) by presenting surviving members
with a specially-designed badge acknowledging the debt that the country owes to them.
The women worked on the Home Front during both wars to provide the nation with food and
timber. One of those women who will receive the award is Esher resident Joan Woods.
Born in Yorkshire in 1921, Joan grew up with a passion for acting. However, when war broke out in
1939, her focus changed. At the time she was performing at a playhouse but she saw a poster urging
women to do their bit for the country.
Her mother banned her from becoming a nurse as she didn’t want her leaving home. Determined,
Joan announced she would instead join the WLA and left for Moulton Agricultural College in
Northamptonshire in 1940.
It was hard work for the 30 girls who were stationed on the 350-acre site. They had to be up every
day at 6am to clean and milk the cows. Each cow had to be milked dry to ensure the yield didn’t
decrease. They also had to harvest sugar beet, which was the wartime sugar source.
Joan said: “Everything was in short supply and we didn’t question ingredients. Our palates adapted
and if food tasted all right, we ate, mainly because we were working outside and we were hungry.”
After lunch, which consisted mainly of suet pudding, the girls had to feed the chickens, milk the cows
a second time and attend lectures on subjects including husbandry and rotation of crops, before
writing an essay detailing everything they had learned.
Joan was later sent to Newby Hall in Ripon to work in the gardens. Although deep in the countryside,
German planes frequently flew over the grounds at night, bombing the glass greenhouses that shone
in the moonlight.
She said: “On the whole of this opulent estate there did not appear to be one air-raid shelter and … I
would crouch under the well of the stairs listening to the threatening drone of the planes and
awaiting the sudden explosion of a bomb.”
After rupturing her appendix in 1942, Joan had to leave the WLA and return home.
“Those two years were a fascinating experience for me,” she said. “I was no longer just a daughter, I
was in the Land Army. I’m sure that every woman who receives an award will be very flattered.”
Speaking last year after announcing the decision to award all surviving WLA and WTC members,
environment secretary Hilary Benn said: “It is absolutely right that we at last recognise the selfless
efforts these women made to support the nation through the dark days of the First and Second
World Wars.
“This badge is a fitting way to pay tribute to their determination, courage and spirit in the face of
adversity.”
North Yorkshire News. 23rd October 2003.
Mrs Peggy Bailey, a former member of the Women's Land Army, had instigated a reunion and Mr
Harrison who now lives at Arkendale Hall was only too pleased to welcome them back and show
them around.
Peggy said: "It was lovely to go there again. It's now very different from how we remembered it.
When we lived there from 1944-48 it was all very sparse with a sink, an old piano and old fireside
chairs. Now it's absolutely beautiful.
"The visit brought back lots of memories. The camaraderie amongst the girls was lovely. I hadn't
seen some of them since 1948, but they looked just the same, just a little older!"
After their tour of the hall the girls went back to Peggy's for a tea party and to catch up on old times.
Since the reunion, other former Land Girls have also contacted Peggy and now they have met up
again they hope to have regular get-togethers.
Mr Harrison has very kindly invited the girls back to Arkendale Hall in the spring, when the daffodils
are out and the grounds are looking magnificent
Linda Dooks
BoroughBridge Historical Society
2013
Arkendale Land Army Girls
Miss Aline M Richards
Land Army Personal Effects
The Richards were evacuated to Barnsley - I don`t think they knew anyone in England at all- but
when they got there my mother enlisted at the earliest opportunity to the Land Army and my
grandfather enlisted for the fire service and I believe helped fight all the bombing fires in the big
northern cities. They must have wanted to do their bit not just sit back and do nothing.I would love
to find out more about their lives during that time but don`t know how to. My Nanny must have
done something too but I dont know what.
I will try and scan my photo in for you of Arkendale Hall and I also have one of the family taken
during the war in Barnsley with my grand dad in Fire Service uniform and my mum in Land Army
uniform.
I know they lived in Stair Foot Barnsley and I went to see where they lived but the road had been
knocked down and replaced by a shop car park but I did see where it started. I also found entries in
the archive in Barnsley - rates or census I think showing their name and address.
I also read some newspapers which suggested that Barnsley had a few Jersey evacuees living in the
om time spent during WW2 at Arkendale, including photographs and demob forms.
Supplied by daughter Sue Rodrigues
Via
Linda Dooks
Boroughbridge Historical Society
20113