Bedfordshire Land Girl Memoir
Bedfordshire Women's Land Army
Stella Goldsmith nee Limon
Page 2
Settling in and painful surprises
On that first day Rona and I decided with a few other girls to walk into
Leighton Buzzard to explore the place. Going wasnt too bad apart from the fact
that those corduroys were so stiff and cumbersome walking was a strange
sensation. But coming back was another matter. Those heavy shoes were agony to
wear. We had blisters on our feet and our progress home was slow as we stopped
to sit on any available garden wall. Breaking in those black boots was even
worse, as you got weals where the tops rubbed your legs but once broken in you
couldnt have found more comfortable footwear.
It was with mixed feelings I sat up in my bunk that first night wondering just what Id let myself in for. I sat there round eyed, I think, as Id never heard any one swear before. If Dad used bad language it certainly wasnt in my presence and swearing on the radio was certainly not allowed but some of those girls from London who came from the East End had a very colourful vocabulary to say the least.
Mobile gangs
The hostel was on the road to Hockliffe about half a mile short of the turn
off to Eggington and Tilsworth. On the first day we had to climb in
to the back
of an open lorry, clutching our tin boxes containing our sandwiches for the day
great doorsteps with paste usually in them. I cant recall there being
anything else no fruit
About six of us were taken to a farm near to Toddington. The farm was run by the War Agricultural Committee. The man in charge was an enormous Scotsman who must have been nearly six and a half feet tall and really brawny as well. He was helped by two of his nephews and a couple of men too old to be called up.
Our first job was potato picking, following behind the tractor as it spun out
the potatoes. We had a sack tied round our waists. When full we had to empty
them into a trailer. Later we had to put them on a riddle in order to sort out
the small potatoes which had to be bagged into one hundred weights for seed.
These we had to lift on to the trailer. It was our first day so you can imagine how the muscles protested. The rest had to be clamped (covered by straw and then
earth mounds to protect from frost) and we learnt how to do that. It was quite
an interesting job another matter though when at intervals during the winter
the clamps had to be opened and once again we had to fill those hundred weight
sacks. The earth would be either wet or covered in frost and snow and the straw
rather smelly.
After the potato harvest was finished, two of us were taught how to hedge and
ditch. Think of all the skills that I was never called on
to use again. First
we had to clear the ditch, which like the farm had been badly neglected. It was
knee high in nettles with a fair bit of water in the bottom. It was not
pleasant, I can tell you, when, by chance, you lost your footing and slithered
in the bottom.
Next we were given a bill hook, shown how to sharpen it and then let loose on the hedge. We actually received a few words of praise from the old boy who taught us. I must say it was a satisfying job as you could really see the result of your labour.
When we had finished with the bill hook we were promoted to using a full-sized scythe, shown how to sharpen it and sent out into an enormous field to scythe off all the thistles in order to learn how to use it. Looking back its a wonder I ended my Land Army career with my hands and feet intact.
Stuart Antrobus Historian/Author
Page last updated: 10th March 2014