by Dee Gordon
Five
Not All Work
At the End of the Working Day
Dances featured prominently as a favourite way of spending an evening for just about every member of the WLA, in complete contrast to their hardworking rural day. A fit Vicky Phillips cycled 15 miles to dances at RAF Sawbridgeworth, but not as often as she would have liked to, because this feat would follow a hard day’s work.
East Ender Gladys Pudney enjoyed dances at Writtle College, and even an ‘occasional ball at the Shire Hall’ in nearby Chelmsford, while the girls billeted in Layer-de-la-Haye saved their clothing coupons to be able to buy fashionable clothes for the dances in the local village hall, dancing the night away with servicemen posted in this rural area.
Although Jean Watsham remembers dances at West Mersea, she says there ‘was nothing at East Mersea except whist drives’. Those girls in the vicinity of Great Dunmow (there was a hostel in Oakroyd Avenue, for instance, near Dunmow Park) were invited regularly to dances at the RAF Dunmow base, built on a landed estate of ancient parkland at Easton Lodge.
The dances later in the war, where there were mostly Americans, were the best fun according to Hilda Gentry. She and other Land Girls managed to retain a ‘couple of decent things to wear, and borrowed from each other if it was a special date’ but mostly it meant ‘being picked up in a lorry and taken to one of the American USAAF bases – Wethersfield [near Braintree], Dunmow and Stansted’. The ‘yanks’ at Stansted arrived in 1942, ‘gorgeous and glamorous creatures’ turning a quiet village ‘upside down’, according to Ann Bernstein in Land Army Days. She spoke of a ‘generous, happy-go-lucky bunch of men’, with cooks who would provide ‘beef sandwiches’ and who attended Saturday night dances at the Stansted Hostel, ‘smuggling in some beer’ against the supervisor’s instructions.
There were also dances, apparently dominated by Canadians, in the Royston area, ‘at an airbase near Nuthampstead [over the border in Hertfordshire]’. A truck would arrive in Mersea a couple of times a week from Stansted to collect Babs Newman and other Land Girls for their dances. She recalls the Americans ‘teaching us to jive’, accompanied by ‘lovely bands and loads of food’ not to mention the ‘nylon stockings’. Her mother kept a few brief letters proclaiming: ‘Won’t be home this weekend because there is a dance here at Takeley [near Stansted].’
Colchester barracks was another venue for regular dances with Land Girls from Essex and Suffolk in attendance. And ‘Friday night at 7’ at Woodham Walter had ‘become famous’ for its dances, according to The Land Girl.
The Americans that Amy Rogers met at the Stansted dances were ‘very protective’ and, in fact, ‘they visited the WLA hostel’ where she was staying, and could be relied on to arrive pronto ‘in their jeeps’ if a bomb was dropped nearby. Margaret Penfold remembers the Americans she met in Chelmsford as being ‘brash’, while Ivy Cardy describes them as ‘generous’. There were plenty of soldiers billeted at Hyland’s Park in Chelmsford, providing ample dancing partners. A couple of the girls featured in Land Army Days also refer to the Americans in Essex as generous and ‘happy-go-lucky’ men in ‘smart uniforms’ with happy laughter and ‘decent food’.
Winifred Daines thought that the American dances ‘were superior’ to those arranged by the British, and that – as far as she was concerned – the ‘hundreds of Americans’ at local airfields (Gosfield near Braintree and Saling at Great Dunmow) ‘treated the Land Army Girls well’. Some were more wary of the ‘yanks’, like Maude Hansford and the girls billeted at Thundersley, who declined the offer of a lift ‘from the American Air Force’ to one dance, with ‘only the hostel’s warden’ ending up on the lorry!
Ashingdon church hall was mentioned by Elsie Haysman as her local venue for dances with ‘American and British servicemen’ in attendance – and she remembers silk stockings, which obviously made quite an impact in times of rationing and clothing coupons. The local village hall was the venue for dances in South Woodham Ferrers when Kathleen Firmin was working there, although she also spent some of her spare time playing badminton, so she must have had plenty of energy left at the end of the working day. Dances were a weekly event for Land Girls and army and air force personnel working in the Loughton or Woodford area: at Abridge or Stapleford Tawney Airfield.
Winifred Daines, née Wretham (right), with jauntily tipped hat. (Braintree District Museum Trust)
The ‘yanks’ did not get as far as Pebmarsh village hall, it seems, because this is where Mary Page attended dances, although she was just as happy playing darts in the local, the King’s Head, and didn’t feel she’d missed out socially by not living in a hostel. They did get as far as the village dances at Wix, though, as Barbara Rix remembers them, along with ‘sailors from Harwich’. A ‘band led by the local butcher’ used to play at these dances, ‘plus an old lady played the piano but wouldn’t play if the Americans jitter bugged’. Although Barbara’s little village put on a few dances, she was more likely to spend time ‘writing letters and knitting – with rationed wool’, and she was only allowed in the front room of her billet on Sunday evening.
According to Rene Wilkinson, the hostel at Stansted was the venue for a dance every Tuesday, with the Americans invited. Four of the girls would be appointed to ‘serve coffee, doughnuts and ice cream to the officers who always looked grey and worn’. But Rene also spent a lot of time in a quieter pursuit – playing cards. Girls from the WLA hostel at Coggeshall favoured the Polish Army dances, with a lorry available to collect them and take them back. Recollections of these dances, in particular, are on file at Braintree District Museum, and it seems that if the girls could not get a late pass they would arrange to stay in Mrs Baker’s house in the village which meant not just sharing a room, but sharing a bed for 1s each without breakfast or washing facilities.
The cinema was a popular ‘outing’ for WLA girls in Essex. The Empire in Mersea Road was – as many were – up and running during the Second World War, and Margaret Penfold remembers ‘walking in a line down the middle of the lane because there was no lighting. We went, in uniform, to see Casablanca.’ However, for East Ender Ellen Brown the nearest cinema was in Chelmsford, a bike ride from Galleywood where she was based, ‘and there was nowhere to leave your bike if you went there’ nor were there any late buses.
Some of the more musical girls enjoyed a sing-song. Betty Cloughton used to sing in the local pubs, including The Chequers in Wickham Bishops, and also remembers jiving in the local public hall. Similarly, Eva Parratt would play the violin to entertain her peers, while Joyce Willsher:
… used to play the piano to get the customers in and sing my heart out. There were about eight little pubs in town [Waltham Abbey] – e.g. The Sun, The Welsh Harp and The Cock Hotel – and I played the piano in most of them, all by ear as I never learnt music; but it was better than nothing to cheer people up … I used to get up on the stage in the Cricketers in London Road [Southend] in my uniform and sing ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ to entertain the troops, in return for a free drink.
Singing for soldiers waiting to go to war ‘was quite sad, as we didn’t know if we would see any of them again’. It seems it wasn’t only the troops that Joyce entertained, because at the Fox & Hounds (Waltham Abbey) she also entertained the prisoners of war who ‘showed us pictures of their families’.
Rita Hoy also reminisced about sing-songs ‘at the village pub’ (Castle Hedingham) and about a recreation hut with a piano, games and occasional dances, and a canteen to buy coffee or dried fruit cake. But Connie Robinson stressed the difficulty of getting from her rural billet to Southminster – boasting seven pubs – for a drink on Sunday as there was just one train in the morning and one at night. The social life for the girls working in the St Osyth area near Clacton was focused on the Flag Inn, a hub for the agricultural community according to Vera Pratt. Lifts were available from local farmers, sing-songs were enjoyed by all, and the village school put on occasional dances.
Some of the girls in rura
l areas had little in the way of a social life due to problems either with transport or with a lack of facilities within easy reach. The girls in the hostels definitely had the superior social life, but it wasn’t all dances and sing-songs, as at the end of a tiring day, some just hit their beds or caught up with domestic chores. Dorothy Jennings wrote of ‘cleaning my hat and coat with Thawpit’ (no longer in the shops, folks …) and of an evening ‘mending two pairs of stockings’.
Mark Hall at Harlow was apparently a stunning building for the 120 or so Land Girls living there, complete with grand staircase, marble fireplaces, an enormous dining room and mirrors everywhere. There was a room set aside for relaxation, and a piano in the hall, with at least one visit from an ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) party. Members of the Dagenham Girl Pipers, who worked the land in Essex, were also members of ENSA and it seems that they even took their pipes along ‘to work’ to provide entertainment where needed!
The pleasures inherent in listening to and playing music as a leisure activity were made clear in the Chelmsford Chronicle of 10 April 1942 with the following appeal for ‘Pianos for Essex Land Girls’:
The Essex War Agricultural Executive Committee have been asking for pianos to hire or to loan for use in their hostels. One piano has already arrived and there are several other replies to be dealt with. There are about twenty hostels in Essex from wooden huts to requisitioned houses and specially built hostels. A few are given over to labour gangs and men and one to Italian prisoners of war, but most are reserved for Land Girls with new hostels being built. Some of these are in isolated spots and the girls have very little in the way of amusements. Besides pianos, darts and dart boards are badly needed, darts being practically unobtainable now. Several ping pong tables have been lent for the duration but demand is greater than supply. Each hostel is equipped with a radio and the Committee is trying to make hostel life as attractive as possible to keep the girls out of the country pubs. Anything in this line will be gratefully received by the Committee at the Institute of Agriculture, Writtle.
The level of entertainment provided for the US troops, however, was second to none, and a number of Land Girls were lucky enough to see Bob Hope when he visited the Americans at Wethersfield, while others saw Bing Crosby giving a concert at Great Dunmow for the troops nearby. (Note the different mindset of the 1940s which meant that it was rare for white and black American servicemen to mix, even at such events, and Land Girls were actively discouraged from fraternising with black troops.)
These entries from the diaries of Eva Parratt give some insight into her social activities:
29.8.1942
Lovely dance at Co-op Hall [Colchester]. Met a Canadian and an American.
1.9.1942
Dance at Abberton. Was quite in demand.
9.9.1942
Cycled to Colchester to hear Reverend Shaw’s talk on slums.
18.5.1943
Went to dance at the Legion. Got chucked about like a ball by a half-drunk Canadian.
The Opposite Sex
A good example of the girls’ preoccupation with the opposite sex is to be found in the wartime diaries of Land Girl Dorothy Jennings from East London. It is important to bear in mind that these girls were mainly teenagers, so the preoccupation is hardly surprising. There are frequent references to different young men she met on the farms, as well as boys from back home in Stratford, and to dances at Warley Barracks. Here are a few samples:
Extract from Eva Parratt’s 1943 war diary. (Courtesy of Rosemary Pepper; image by author)
17.9.43
I like Ernie.
23.12.43
There was all sorts at Warley Barracks dance. I danced with a Yank. Got on with a sailor, and a soldier brought us a big glass of beer each.
9.1.44
Reached hostel at 6.15 and got in through the window. Walked to Thatchers [Thatchers Arms, at Brentwood] later.
13.1.44
We taught three soldiers to dance the Palais Glide.
18.1.44
Miss Barnett told us off for being out late.
1.4.44
Went to pictures and saw Jane Eyre which was lovely.
15.9.44
Been thinking about Ron and Reg, don’t know which one I like best. [The diaries suggest Reg, who is mentioned almost daily, until …]
9.10.44
So fed up. I wish I could see Ron. I like him so much but I don’t suppose I shall ever see him again.
When Rita Hoy was working in the woodlands around Castle Hedingham, there was a ‘searchlight site nearby, and we were invited out by some of the lads’. In A History of Mark Hall Manor, there are accounts of several girls meeting up with troops (American and British) at the Crown in Harlow. One girl mentions that ‘a bunch of boys used always to wait at the station on Sunday nights when we came back from our weekends at home just to walk us back to the Hall’ because, it seems, the long drive had no lighting and ‘was so creepy’.
The hostels, and their young female inhabitants, held quite an attraction for troops from home and overseas. Vera Redshaw reminisced in All Muck, Now Medals of a hostel in Rochford, near Southend, where bomber crews ‘from all over the Commonwealth’ would regard the hostel as a second home. They would ‘sit round the slow combustion stoves laughing and talking during the evening, but none of these crews survived and many days were spent in tears as well as laughter, and some days were very difficult to get through’. Similarly, Douglas Savill writes of when the vicarage at Langley, near Saffron Walden, was turned into a Land Army hostel, with the vicar’s wife initially taking on the role of warden. The place suddenly seemed ‘to have a great attraction for the American airmen from the Nuthampstead aerodrome’.
It was not unusual for some of the girls to have pen pals in the forces and develop a long-distance relationship. A meeting might not take place until demobilisation, however.
Home for the Weekends
Although depending on where they lived, quite a few Land Girls working in Essex could get home – especially if home was in Essex or East London – on many weekends, from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening, though not usually at harvest time. Some went home for practical reasons – like Babs Newman, who took her laundry home, and Doreen Morey, who needed ‘something decent to eat’. Others met up with family and friends, or, if they were in a more isolated community, for a bit of social life. It was not at all uncommon for the girls to hitch a lift home in this age of innocence, and it was mentioned by numerous ex-WLA members as being a regular occurrence.
One Land Girl at the hostel in Coggeshall (‘Joyce X’ is the only name in the Braintree Museum archive) wrote of several girls hitching a lift one particular Saturday on an open-back lorry carrying old tyres, with soldiers and sailors already on the back when they got on – much to her embarrassment as she had rags in her hair, the forerunner of rollers. When her scarf fell off and the rags fell forward, covering her face, everyone on the lorry had a good laugh, arriving in the East End in a merry mood. (This same group of East Enders would meet up on Sunday evenings at Mile End Road bus depot for the bus journey back, singing rowdy songs all the way.) Dorothy Jennings’ diary confirms how run-of-the mill and acceptable hitch-hiking as a form of transport was:
15.1.44
Hitched to Gallows Corner [Romford] in a car, then to Ilford by lorry, and to the top of the road in a R.A.F. car.
Her diary points out one of the disadvantages of going home for the weekend if home was London – East London in particular. On 18 June 1944, she mentions ‘gunfire was right overhead’ on a Sunday she spent in Stratford, and makes diverse other references to bomb damage when she was travelling through Leyton and Manor Park.
Rallying Round
There were a number of opportunities during the war for members of the WLA to get together, whether it be to celebrate or to compete. ‘Farm Sunday’ was celebrated in style in July 1943. Thousands of Land Girls and farmers took part in processions at fourteen venues aro
und the county, organised by the Essex War Agricultural Executive Committee. At Chelmsford, as reported in the Essex Newsman of 10 July, there was a:
… remarkable demonstration of farm machinery from potato lifters and hay rakes to huge combine harvesters and threshers drawn by tractors. It was the best show of agricultural activities that Chelmsford had seen for a long time, and helped to explain how in war time Essex goes on producing record crops … sunburnt Land Girls handled powerful caterpillar tractors with the confidence of experts.
The large numbers of Land Girls in attendance were accorded places of honour in the procession, as were male farm workers. The High Sheriff of Essex, Major Hubert Ashton, MC, DI, accompanied Land Girls in a procession at Ongar led by a parade of agricultural equipment, and the major pointed out that the farmers were ensuring one of the four freedoms outlined in the Atlantic Charter – freedom from want.
Another Land Army Rally, in 1944, at Writtle Agricultural College, with the Duchess of Gloucester in attendance. (Courtesy of the Writtle Archive)
At Burnham-on-Crouch nearly 2,000 people assembled on the playing fields for a service, with Land Girls in evidence, and in Harlow the WLA headed the parade in a ‘farm wagon, decorated with vegetables and cereals’. At Maldon, another 2,000 people watched the procession of ‘Land Army girls and other units’ and at Braintree, ‘a squad of Land Girls’ followed the Colchester ATC Band (Essex Chronicle, 9 July 1943). The Harlow Gazette reported that the WLA headed their procession with ‘a cart decorated with various vegetables. In between were farm implements drawn by tractors.’