Audrey Broad

"I passed a scholarship to go to college. But, when war was declared my parents advised that it was better not to spend any money on going to college. I was quite upset, and it still hurts that I wasn’t able to go to college. Mum had a new baby, my little baby brother called Fred, and I was needed to help look after him."

"In 1942 I started training with the girls’ brigade and became a sergeant. I must have been very authoritative as a sergeant in the girls’ brigade. I can’t believe it really as I was so withdrawn when I lived at home.’ 

Hazel Collins

"I always remember saying to my father I am going into the Land Army and he said, ‘When?’ and I said, ‘As soon as you fill these forms in’ because I was under age, only 17 and a bit. He said, ‘The one thing you have got to promise me is you must not come home crying.’ Oh I did so want to, so many times."

"I was always good at arithmetic. When the new boss, Teddy Gibbs said “Any of you good at maths?” I said, “I am good at maths,” and so he said, “You can be the lady measurer then,” and I got more money than the other girls."

Margaret Finch

"The forest was in full foliage and after spending all afternoon getting through the undergrowth to the tree, we proceeded to fell it. As it came down we heard a lot of pinging noises. Then within another hour whilst trimming this large oak we realised we were surrounded by police."

"It turned out we had brought down the telephone lines hidden in the foliage above. We never knew whether they were kidding or not, but the police said we had brought down the telephone lines to Churchill’s war office and they suspected us of sabotage!"

Edna Holland

"I joined when I was 171⁄2 because at that age you could go where you wanted to go, at 18 they decided for you. They wanted people who were good at maths to measure the pit props for the coal mines and I had been very good at maths so that is what I decided to do."

"We rolled up our dungarees to make them into shorts. The dungarees did not stay like that for long as we cut them off into shorts. We were sent special issue undies, which didn’t last long either as we cut those off into shorts too."

Kathleen Houghton

Kathleen Houghton worked in the milk bar at Woolworths in Blackpool before the war. She joined the Women’s Timber Corps in 1941 and trained as a lorry driver, even though she had never driven a car before. She spent the war in Lanhydrock and Lostwithiel, Cornwall, delivering urgent lorry loads of pit props for the coal mines to the station in Plymouth.

On one top secret mission, she had to deliver wood that was destined for the floating Mulberry Harbours through the heavily bombed area of docks. She finally got her car licence in the late 1950’s.

Audrey King

Aged 17 Audrey left her job in domestic service as kitchen maid to sign up for war. On her first day out in the forest, she was trying to impress her new boss, Mr. Williams, the land agent for the Cowdray Estate. With a pot of paint in hand, she’d been told to mark the trees to be felled for wartime timber supplies.

“We were tiptoeing through the primroses, all out in bloom, with little stumps of trees here and there. When I caught my toe on one of them. As I fell full length carrying a tin of paint, the pot hit the ground and the paint went straight up my arm. Mr. Williams said, ‘Are you alright?’”

Enid Lenton

"Before the war I nearly went to the Olympic games to compete in swimming and I used to go on stage at the League of Health and Beauty to demonstrate my fitness. Dad was very sporty and played golf, so my parents, my brother and I were all members of the golf club and we played at Gleneagles and all over Scotland."

"We received no training and had to learn the skills in a very short time. Within one month, I was made a supervisor and put in charge of training forty girls every month to fell trees with an axe and saw."

Eileen Mark

"There was an anti-aircraft camp with search lights. I was working in the woods opposite putting pit props in sections along the roadside. Then one night we realised that our pit props were gone and we could see the top of a roaring campfire over on the army base."

"I was furious and decided to go over to the camp. I asked who was in charge and was sent to see the sergeant. I discovered the pit props had been used for the fire. He apologised, offered me a cup of tea and piece of cake and introduced himself as Wally. Wally later became my husband to whom I was married for fifty-four years."

Violet Parker

"I grew up in Lostwithiel and went to school until I was 14 years old and then worked in a milk bar in town. We served milkshakes, coffees and made our own ice cream. I did that for four years until I was 18. It was very sociable and I enjoyed doing it. I just enjoyed every day and I wasn’t frightened of anything. It was a lovely peaceful life. Everyone had boats and we went up and down the river. It was a peaceful and good life."

"It was a shock when the war came and my brother had to go when he was 18. It was terrible."

Heather Rumsby

Heather wrote to her parents: “At the moment we are waiting in our bedroom clad in vest and pants for a medical inspection. It’s just like getting into the army - we even had to give our next of kin.”

"There have been rather a lot of casualties during this month, sprained wrists, cut fingers etc. and so yesterday we had a 1^st Aid lecture and have been advised to study it, as one should really know what to do when miles away from anywhere. Apparently, the men often chop themselves about at the sawmills! The tales we’ve heard I won’t repeat."

Doris Mary Youde

Doris was trained in the Forest of Dean and then was sent to work up in forests up and down the country. She worked in the New Forest, in Bardon Hill Woods in Leicestershire and many other counties. 

In the North York Moors she was appointed to oversee forestry operations for the clear fell of a 300-acre wood at Castle Howard and run a sawmill set up for the operation. Not only did she manage a large team of women from the Timber Corps, but she was also put in charge of 29 men. Doris said that most of the men did not like being given orders by a woman.