205361 Joan Gertrude Ball Womans Timber Corp from: (d. ) I first tried to join the Woman’s Land Army when I was 16 years old but had to wait until I was 17, I finally joined up in April of 1943, they asked me if I wanted to catch rats, I told them I was afraid of mice and rats and would rather join the Timber Corps. I had to report to Culford training camp at Bury St. Edmunds for 6 weeks, 2 weeks felling, 2 weeks sawmill and 2 weeks measuring, we had to get up at 5:30am to be ready for exercises at 6:00am.
My first posting was at Little Sandhurst, Crowthorne.
A year later I was transferred to Hertford in Hertfordshire and worked at Bramfield with Italian prisoners of war felling, lopping, cutting and loading timber ready for shipping, after which a truck would pick us up and take us back to Hertford. While I was in Crowthorne I met a Canadian soldier at the Aldershot army base, during this time I got married, went on a honeymoon to Scotland and returned to Hertford where I served until Feb. 1946. I joined up as Joan Ball and left as Joan Prentice.
Some of the girls I remember are Thelma Hope, Myrtle Bishop (nickname Lawry), Ruby Hedge (married name Morris), Irene Kelly, Peggy Brown (married name Castonguay, deceased), Francis MacLean (nickname Mac, deceased) Marjorie Millman, Della Smith & Daphne Smith (sisters)
Joan Bell
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