Bedfordshire Hostels
Silsoe
Bedfordshire Women's Land Army > Bedfordshire Hostels
Location: |
Wrest Park Lodge (behind Silsoe parish church) in grounds of Wrest Park
estate. OS Ref: TL08343556 |
Description: | Accommodated up to 32 land girls in 5 bedrooms. |
Opened: | June 1943 |
Closed: | c. September 1950 |
Ethel Collyer (nee Richer) by the former Silsoe WLA hostel |
More information about this hostel
- Mrs. Stone (previously Warden at Potton Hostel) was first Warden, and Miss Sanderson was Assistant Warden. By Feb 1946, the Warden is a Mrs.(?) Futter.
- (With Kensworth) Silsoe Hostel completed the most overtime of any "War Ag" hostels in the county (reported in August 1944 The Land Girl magazine).
![Silsoe land girls working in walled garden at Wrest Park](0.images/silsoe_land_girls_wrest_park.jpg)
Silsoe land girls working in walled garden at Wrest Park
- At the 14 February 1946 WLA Grand Parade in Bedford, the Silsoe Hostel contingent was led by a Miss B. Pentelow.
- Womens Land Army well represented at recruitment display during Wrest Park Agricultural Show, July 1946.
![Ethel Richer (now Ethel Collyer)](0.images/silsoe_ethel_richer_small.jpg)
Ethel Richer(now Ethel Collyer)
- George Hotel, Silsoe, was the land girls' local pub.
- There were five rooms with up to six land girls in each.
- Wrest Park mansion was occupied by Sun Insurance Co. during the war.
- There was a WAAF (Womens Auxiliary Air Force) camp in huts on Wrest Park estate.
![Silsoe land girls in the High Street](0.images/davenport_snow.jpg)
Silsoe land girls in the High Street
![Location of Silsoe hostel](0.images/silsoe_map.jpg)
Location of Silsoe hostel
OS 6" map Bedfordshire sheet XXVI NW (with additions with 1947-48)
More Pictures of Silsoe Land Girls
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Stuart Antrobus Historian/Author
Page last updated: 28th February 2014