Womens Land Army Tribute
‘‘remembering the work of the Land Army with a lasting memorial’’
During the Great Wars, with the men away fighting, it was up to volunteer girls to work our rural lands, to help feed the war effort and the nation as well as helping to maintain wood supplies, hence the references to these young girls as Land Girls and Lumber Jill’s.
To date there is no National Monument recognising what these girls did for our country. The Staffordshire branch of the Women’s Food & Farming Union (WFU) would like to rectify this and are raising funds to provide a lasting memorial to the Women’s Land Army at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire.
Nearly £36,000 has been raised so far, with many thanks to everyone who has so generously donated towards the memorial.
Did you know?
The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was first formed during World War One – the Land Girls as they became known, worked on the land, freeing the male workers to go to war. In the Second World War, by 1943, there were some 80,000 young women at any one time, working in every aspect of agriculture to feed the nation. With their uniform of green ties and jumpers and brown felt slouch hats, they worked from dawn to dusk each day, milking cows, digging ditches, sowing seeds and harvesting crops.
The Women’s Timber Corps (WTC), also known as the ‘Lumber Jills’ worked tirelessly in the forests to provide timber for the war effort, felling trees, sawing timber and sharpening saws.
During the two World Wars and thereon until 1950, well over 200,000 young women had served in the Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps.
With the outbreak of peace the WLA remained in existence doing vital jobs on the land until demobilisation was complete. The WLA was formally disbanded in 1950. The WTC was formally disbanded in 1946.
Support this cause and read more here: http://www.womenslandarmytribute.co.uk/
