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Queen Elizabeth and the WLA in their uniform
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Your Story: My interview with Lucy Jarrett |
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This is the interview:
Q. Where did you work?
A. The war was on, and I was called up into the Women's Land Army. I didn't want to join the Land Army, but I had no choice. I was sent to work at Nunwick Hall, where I worked in the gardens. I worked with one gardener, the manager and some other Land Girls. I travelled to and from work on me shank's pony. My favourite thing about the job was working in the greenhouses. Sometimes we had to pick brussel sprouts outside in the cold, and they were frozen to their stems so that it was hard to get them. I hated doing that. It was probably the worst thing about the job!
Letter from Queen Elizabeth to Lucy Jarret |
Q. What was the Women's Land Army for, and what did you do?
A. The Women's Land Army was to replace the men who had gone to war. The women there did that the men usually did. Once I was told to pull a snowplough and I fainted! The work was very hard sometimes! After the snowplough incident, I was taken to the house and told to rest, but by then, I was perfectly all right again!" I worked there for one year, then I moved to Stocksfield.
Q. What was your pay like, and how did you spend it?
A. I worked 48 hours per week for 38 shillings (£1.66 in today's money) and i didn't think it was fair - agricultural workers got very low. I mostly had to spend it on board and lodgings, busfares and clothes, but also went to the pictures on a Saturday night.
Lucy Jarret milking a cow |
Q. What did you do in the leisure time.
A. I played cards a lot, and read books, and I went to the pictures on Saturdays. we couldn't go on holidays, though, we hadn't got the money and the war was on anyway.
By interviewing my grandma, I found out a lot about Britain in the 1940's, and I have realized how much life has changed.
Words: Rebecca Yellowley
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