Joan Winifred Blanchard (née Maunder)

General Information

First Name(s): Joan Winifred

Unmarried Surname: Maunder

Married Surname: Blanchard

Date of Birth: 10/5/1927

Place of Birth: London

Date Joined WLA: 28th June 1944

Date Left WLA: 29th December 1945

Employment and Accommodation

Employment

Pre-Work Training: Farm in Hampshire – Stockbridge (mum can’t remember the name)

County: Hereford and Hertfordshire

Village: Weobley, Hereford and Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire.

Accommodation

Accommodation in: WLA Huts at WLA Weobley.

Further Information

Type of work undertaken: Milking cows and helping on the farm

Best and worst memories of time: She loved milking cows and learned all about sex from the older girls! She talked fondly about her life in the WLA. She kept in touch with Vera and Rose for years after. I think it was the most exciting thing she had done. But then she had a very happy childhood, which was tragically ended when her older brother died in 1941 in the war and her Dad died of TB also in 1941 when she was 14.

Life After War

Mum went into the WLA before she should have, and I don’t know what she did for work before. I think she probably left school at 14 or 15. She was a member of the theatre group “The Trent Players” at Middlesex College. She always regretted that she was too young to join ENSA.