Land Girls honoured with special Downing Street ceremony

Jul 24 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

THEY helped to keep the country going during the darkest days of World War II.

And while their brothers, fathers and husbands went off to fight, the Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps worked tirelessly on farms and in forests to support the war effort.

Their often dirty, unpleasant and back-breaking work meant that Britain was supplied with both food and timber, avoiding shortages and keeping the nation fed. But, despite their vital contribution to the war effort, the work carried out by the “Land Girls” and “Lumber Jills” has often been overlooked.

Now, more than 60 years after the end of the war, a belated effort to put that right was made yesterday when 50 ex-Land Girls from across the country were presented with badges of honour for their war service.

They were invited to represent their former colleagues at the Downing Street ceremony, where they met Prime Minister Gordon Brown and were presented with the badges of honour by Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Among them was 89-year-old Mary Vincent, who now lives in sheltered accommodation in Litherland.

One of 11 children, she joined the Women’s Land Army (WLA) at the age of 21 after the death of her brother. A keen stage dancer, she worked on a farm in Sefton as she refused to leave her mother following the tragic loss of her sibling.

She spent three or four years as a Land Girl until she had to leave due to ill health.

She said she recalled her time in the WLA fondly, recounting tales of sitting on haystacks and gaining the respect of policemen and other authority figures for the important part she was playing in the war effort.

Mrs Vincent, known to her friends as May, said after the ceremony: “I have enjoyed today although I didn’t want to come. My family said I had to!

“It’s been an enjoyable day.

“I’m very grateful for the badge but we earned it. We did our bit for the war.” Of her time in the WLA, she said: “I was in for three or four years. I had to come out through ill health. I don’t think it was the hard work but the long hours.”

Mrs Vincent said she was very naive when she joined up and climbed on top of a corn wagon without thinking about how she would get down.

“I had to swing down on a rope. I got all burns up my arms from the rope.

“Once I was working with a big cart horse and it kicked me and sent me flying. They said it was because it knew it was tea time.

“Then I went on a dairy and was taught to drive the milk van. I enjoyed that. In the afternoons we had to wash the bottles and put them into crates ready for the next morning.

“It was seven days a week with one half day off a week and one half Sunday off every third week. I used to spend my half day in bed, I was so tired but I enjoyed it.”

In total, more than 30,000 former members of the Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps will receive the specially designed badge of honour in recognition of their efforts to provide for the nation during the war.

Gordon Brown said: “The Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps worked tirelessly in the war years to keep this country going by providing food and supplies, and timber for the war effort.

“Their work was vital, and it is right that we thank them now for their dedication in the service of their country.”

alanweston@dailypost.co.uk