The Army
Churchill
Forgot
Shortly before the outbreak of
war, in June 1939 the British
Government re-created the British
Women’s Land Army. Although
the WLA came under the Ministry
of Agriculture, its head was the
formidable Lady Denman and her
home, Balcombe Place in Sussex,
became its headquarters. Women
who wanted to join the WLA had
to be 18 years of age or over, had
to be successful at an interview
and pass a medical before being
accepted for training. In the
theory, new members should have
been taught a number of farming
practices such as milking, drainage
etc. In reality the training was on
the job and Land Girls did a wide
range of jobs including milking,
lambing,
managing
poultry,
ploughing,
gathering
crops,
digging ditches and catching rats.
Initially they were all volunteers but
in December 1941 the government
passed the National Service Act
which allowed the conscription of
women and by 1943 more than
80,000 women were working in the
Women’s Land Army.
Land Girls came from a very wide
variety of backgrounds with more
than a third from London and
other large cities. They lived either
on the farm where they worked
or in hostels. Initially Land Girls
were paid £1.85 for a 50 hour
week, wages were increased by
£1 in1944 but as the wages were
paid by the farmer it was difficult to
ensure that everyone was properly
paid.
The Establishment, including
Winston Churchill, failed to
acknowledge the huge contribution
of thousands of young women who
kept the country fed throughout
the war. The Women’s Land Army
was the ‘forgotten army’ right up to
2008 when its significant and vital
contribution to the war effort was
officially recognised with a medal.
‘Lilies on the Land’ tells the trials
and tribulations of four women
who signed up for the endless
hours of backbreaking work that
was the lot of the Land Girls. It is
a play laced with humour, warmth
and love based on 150 letters from
and interviews with original Land
Girls. It plays the Javea Players’
Studio Theatre from Monday April
6 to Friday April 10. Curtain-up is at
8pm. Tickets are priced at 8 euros
and are available from the box
office on 96 579 4937 and o nline
at [email protected].
At the Javea Players’ Studio
Theatre in Javea’s Old
Town between Monday April
6 and Friday April 10 you
are invited to a very funny,
wonderfully moving and
utterly captivating portrait of
some of Britain’s pluckiest
unsung heroes in Penny
Grant’s production of
‘Lilies on the Land’.
Jávea
Players