Mary Howland (née Parkinson)

“Mary Howland (née Parkinson), known to her friends as Parky, worked in the Women’s Timber Corps during the Second World War. I believe the photos below were were taken at Bedgebury Wood, Flimwell Kent. She did mention tree planting at Byrness Northumberland but there is nothing to substantiate this. She died in 1994 but I believe she was still in contact with others in the 1980s.”

My mother lived near Throckley Northumberland and worked in a fashion clothing shop in Newcastle upon Tyne in the thirties. I’m not sure when she joined the Land Army or when the transferred to the Timber Corps. She would have been 23 in 1940. The soldier in the pic with her is my father. They married during the war.”

Richard Howland, Mary’s son.