Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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209154
Winnifred M. Eade
Women's Land Army
from:Bridlington, England
I joined the Land Army in 1941 and at first lived in a hostel in Muston, a little village in North Yorkshire. Shortly afterwards I was moved to Sherborne in Dorset. During my time in the WLA I worked on many farms doing everything from feeding animals, planting and harvesting crops to digging ditches. It was hard work but I loved every minute of it and even got to ride a horse for the first time. I made many new friends during my time in the WLA. I remember my friends Rosie Robson and Freda Jackson who were both from Bridlington which is where I grew up. It was a good feeling knowing that we were contributing to the war effort.
One morning our group of girls were riding in the back of the truck out to the farm. While going down the steep Garaby Hill in East Yorkshire the brakes failed. The truck raced down the hill, crashed through the farmer’s fence and into his barnyard. Chickens were flying everywhere! No-one was hurt but we got the day off.
At night the girls would go into the villages for a social time together. Here we would get to know one another and to share a lot of laughs. We would meet soldiers from all over the world who were fighting with us. I made many friends with the girls in my group. It was Freda Jackson who set me up on a blind date with a Canadian soldier. That date was to result in a marriage that lasted 65 years. After the war my husband, Thomas John, and I moved to Canada with other war brides. Since then I have lived in the small town of Lindsay where my husband was born and raised for 68 years.