Land Girl - The Happiest Years of My Early Life

A Memoir of Service in the Women's Land Army 1939-46

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Joining Up – The Women’s Land Army

February 1, 2014 By LG-Admin 2 Comments

Old Enough to Join the Women’s Land Army?

The next obstacle for us to overcome was our age, as we were both under age. We needed to convince the recruiter we were eighteen when in fact I was still fifteen. I need not have worried as she never batted an eyelid. With this obstacle cleared, we were free to join the Women’s Land Army by signing up. September 15, 1939, a Friday marked our commencement of service, less than two weeks after war was declared. We must therefore have been some of the earliest girls to join up. I was beginning to get excited as my plans were taking shape.

I then had to wait a while. Presumably I went back to the convent, for school had probably started again after the summer break, but I could put up with it because of the prospects that lay ahead. Whether I said anything to the nuns I doubt, but all the girls in my class soon knew of my intentions. Some expressed surprise about what I intended to do, but many I think envied me, and the adventurous probably already had plans of their own to join up as soon as they could. Eventually I left the convent mid term and without formally completing my education. What the nuns said about that I do not remember, and I certainly did not care about, for I was set on getting a much wider education through the WLA.

Accepted into the Women’s Land Army

I don’t think I had had to wait in suspense too long, as my formal induction into the Women’s Land Army took place soon after I applied to join. For Veronica and other girls like us in Liverpool, it began with an introductory talk to ensure we knew what we were letting ourselves in for. It didn’t matter to me what was said as I was fully committed to joining whatever the pitfalls and fully looking forward to being a “land girl” come what may. I then more than happily “signed on”. I was given a WLA service number, 10962, and papers documenting my terms of engagement. Then was the biggest thrill of all when I was issued with my uniform. How proud of wearing it I was and took great pride in wearing it, even if then I knew little or nothing about working on the land!

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Filed Under: Chapter 2 - Joining Up - The Women's Land Army, Part One Tagged With: join up, Land Girls, Medical Exam, Uniform, Women's Land Army

Comments

  1. Julie Summers says

    May 19, 2014 at 4:39 AM

    What a wonderful and happy story of your life as a land girl. I am more than delighted to have read it and I hope you have had much popular feedback. Congratulations, especially, that you were presented to the Queen. What a proud moment that must have been. Julie

    Reply
    • LandGirls-Admin says

      June 6, 2014 at 8:41 AM

      Hello Julie,

      Happy to hear from you and thank you for your kind comments. They were wonderful years for me and I look back on them with much pleasure and pride. And yes, being presented to the Queen was a great honour.

      Regards,

      Jeanne.

      Reply

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About Me

Proud member of the Women's Land Army, Jeanne Flann, nee Harlow, here. Happily retired in Utah after a full and satisfying life that got off to a great start working as a Land Girl in the Trough of Bowland, you can read more about me.

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Book Outline

  • Introduction
  • Part One
    • Chapter 1 – Prologue, the Sullivans, the Harlows and My Childhood
    • Chapter 2 – Joining Up – The Women’s Land Army
    • Chapter 3 – Lancashire College of Agriculture at Hutton
  • Part Two
    • Chapter 4 – Lower Greenbank Farm Over Wyresdale
    • Chapter 5 – Holt Farm Gateacre – Tragedy & Deliverance
    • Chapter 6 – Marshaw, The Trough of Bowland Fells
  • Part Three
    • Chapter 7 – Epilogue
    • Chapter 8 – Recognition at Last
  • Appendix

All Sections

  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells
  • Recognition at Last For Land Girls
  • Epilogue – Life After Being a Land Girl in the WLA
  • Last and Best Assignment as a Land Girl: Marshaw – The Trough of Bowland
  • Second Assignment as a Land Girl: Holt Hall Farm, Liverpool – Tragedy and Deliverance
  • First Assignment as a Land Girl: Lower Greenbank Farm, Over Wyresdale

Land Girls Memoirs and Other Memoirs

In the two step process of creating a paper memoir and now converting it into a web based one, it is my hope that my memoir, Land Girl - The Happiest Years of Early Childhood joins other Land Girl memoirs as a member of that genre, and contributes to it.

My husband has his own memoir through the same process as mine, paper memoir first, then website GunnerFlann.com. He too hopes his memoir contributes to the National Service Memoirs genre.

Please let us know if you agree contact me.

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  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells

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