Remembrance Poem: We were summoned from the city, from the cottage and the hall

We were summoned from the city, from the cottage and the hall,
From the hillside and the valley, and we answered to the call.
For we’re fighting for our country as we till her fertile soil
And our King and Country need our help and ask for earnest toil.

Keep the home crops growing,
In the soft winds blowing
Though your work seems hard at times ’tis not in vain.
Golden cornfields waving,
Mean your country’s saving,
Golden sheaves at Harvest Time will the victory gain.

In the farmyard and the forest we are bravely doing our bit,
Some are milking cows for England, some the giant oak trees split.
We are working for our country, and we’re glad to have the chance,
By increasing England’s food supply, to help our lads in France.

Keep the home flag flying,
England’s food supplying,
Help to bring our gallant lads victorious home.
Though the Germans raid us,
English women aid us,
Keep our food stores fortified till the boys come home.

By K.M.E. Gotelee, published in The Landswoman, March 1918, p.56.
Written to the tune of ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’.
This poem was selected as third prize for The Land Army songs competition run by The Landswoman.

“The march of the Land Girls in the Lord Mayor’s Show. A company of members of the WLA, in white smocks, with a wagon containing weather-browned and smiling women workers, formed a picturesque feature of the show.”
Source: Catherine Procter Collection