Interview with female. Women's Land Army during Second World War. Grandfather was a wheelwright. Father was a blacksmith for Eastwoods brick factory

  • Women's Voices and Life Writing
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Title
Interview with female. Women's Land Army during Second World War. Grandfather was a wheelwright. Father was a blacksmith for Eastwoods brick factory
Notes on Audio Quality
Please note that there are multiple tracks to this recording. Use the arrow buttons to navigate to further tracks. Part B ends after around 22 minutes.
Interviewer
Semeraro, Carmela
Document Type
  • Oral history Recording
Date
29 Oct 2002
Interview Date
29 Oct 2002
Biography
She was born in Wotton on 5 June 1927. Her parents were both from Wootton and her grandparents lived within about 200 yards of each other. Her paternal grandfather's family had a wheelwright business, and she was told that her maternal grandfather was a builder. The wheelwrights made almost anything that needed to be made of wood, as well as shoeing horses, painting signs for pubs and houses, and making and carrying coffins. Her father and uncles worked for her grandfather until the business burned down, at which point they went and worked for other companies. Her father worked at the brickworks. She had no siblings, but had many cousins on both sides. In her time at primary school, evacuees joined their school, making it more difficult for teachers to educate them all to the same standard. When she left school she became a dress maker, and was also a performer in a concert group. She developed an anxious reaction to loud noises after a bomb dropped near her home, leading to her leaving the dress factory to get away from the machinery and joining the Land Army. In the land army she worked on farms and as a milk deliverer. Her first husband died of an illness at the age of 22, shortly before her grandmother died aged 90. Her first son was born in the home, and the rest of her children were born in hospital. Her second husband died suddenly in their home, possibly from an asthma attack.
Length (minutes)
85
Copyright and Source Archive
Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service