September Snapshot in 5: Nottinghamshire
This September ‘Snapshot in 5 post’ features the work of the WLA in Nottinghamshire.
1. A page from a WLA photograph album on the work of Land Girls in Retford.
Source: Catherine Procter WLA Collection
2. A newspaper article on Notts county organiser Marjorie Haigh celebrating her work.
3. Land Girl Winifred Priestley in her WLA uniform, ready to chop trees in Nottinghamshire forests.
4. The WLA reunion badge collection, collected by Land Girl veteran Joan Alice Boffin (née Stokes)
Source: Joan Alice Boffin (née Stokes) collection
5. Doris Una Ball (née Palmer) reflecting on her time working on a farm in Nottinghamshire.
The hours were long and arduous beginning at 6.00 am, tumbling out of bed at 5.30 am in the Winter shivering with cold. I’d hurriedly struggle into khaki knee breeches, jumper and wellington boots and splash my face from the cold water tap in the kitchen. Then race outside to the bucket lavatory with a board over it with a hole in it. The farm manager brewed tea and after quickly gulping it down it was then outside, whatever the weather to begin the day’s work.
Source: BBC People’s War
Further information on the WLA in Nottinghamshire
Numbers
Land Girls employed in Nottinghamshire from April 1940 to 1947, calculated from the returns published in The Land Girl magazine.
In April 1940, Nottinghamshire employed 52 Land Girls. By October 1943, 1405 Land Girls worked in the county.
Staff members
Chairman: The Lady Sibell Argles, White Lodge, Thoresby Park, Ollerton, Notts
Secretary: Miss N.Moore, The Women’s Land Army Office, The Kennels, Thoresby Park, Ollerton, Notts.
Memoirs
Beetroot For Breakfast: Tales from the Land Girls of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, John Ward.
Other sources
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/60/a2754560.shtml
- https://wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/view.php?uid=206343
- https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/undercover-second-world-war-tank-3660339
- http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page/ww2_land_army_girl?path=0p2p55p
- http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/page/ww2_land_army_women?path=0p2p55p
Find out more
Did you or a member of family work in Nottinghamshire as a Land Girl? If so, then get in touch.
Interested in seeing more material relating to the WLA in Nottinghamshire? Click here or take a look at the archive material below.
