When Joanna began researching the Lumberjills, she travelled across the country to meet 60 women who had served in the Women’s Timber Corps during WWII. Those conversations stayed with Joanna and changed the course of her life.
Since then, she's painted them, written their history and novels and shared their story with audiences. Along the way, we’ve received the most wonderful creative responses. Paintings, poems and crafts from people inspired by these remarkable women. Now we'd love to invite you to be part of it!
If the Lumberjills have moved you, send us photos of your drawings, paintings, poetry, collage or crochet, short stories or songs, and we’ll share them on our website and socials to celebrate their continuing legacy.
Email your piece by clicking the 'Submit Work' button below.
You absolutely don’t need to be a professional to take part, just inspired! All you need is a tiny spark of creative inspiration and often it comes as a whisper, so listen out for it. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Molly said: "To get to the dances from our cottage, I would walk the 2 miles on my own to meet the girls and then we would all walk another 2 miles to the Portsonachan Hotel at the loch side.
"Sometimes my brothers would come and would ride their bikes to the loch and throw them in the bushes. Here we would all clamber into a rowing boat and row the half a mile across to the other side of Loch Awe at Taycreggan.
"There would be about eight of us in the boat. After that we walked another mile up the hill to Kilchrenan Village Hall, where we would dance from about 9 p.m. until 2 a.m."
In WW2 in far-off lands
Men were sent to fight
To the women left behind, life felt like shifting sands
Now was the time to show determination and strength with all their might
One important task was working on the land
Women were called upon to step up and give a hand
A new group created was The Timber Corp
Women had a chance to show their worth and come to the fore
Kitted out with jodhpurs and chunky green sweaters
Worn to keep warm in all kinds of weathers
Adorned with berets or colourful scarves on their head
Long thick socks to keep their toes from freezing and stand them in good stead
Trudging through the forest or lucky to get a ride
With their 'trusty' saws and axes by their side
Long days chopping and sawing
Then its shouts of T I M B E R….. as the tall trees start falling
These women affectionately known as Lumberjills
No doubt in downtime, attending dance halls, showing off their jitterbugging skills
They were brought together from all walks of life
Doing their utmost to serve through adversity and strife
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“It's wonderful to read these stories of the women who contributed so much to the war effort but were then forgotten about.
Thanks to Joanna's perseverance and determination, they are now being rightly honoured and remembered.”
“Joanna Foat’s characters
are brilliantly drawn and so
wonderfully written, readers will end up missing them when they turn the last page.
Written with style, flair and heart, this evocative, entertaining and gloriously readable historical novel is a delight from beginning to end and I look forward to reading more books from Joanna Foat.”
"The hardback photo book is a beautiful gift and its wonderful photos truly bring stories about these incredible Lumberjills to life. Thank you for putting this photographic record together, Jo, and ensuring this part of history will be remembered for generations to come."
© Copyright Joanna Foat 2026
