Women's Land Army Badge presented to Vera MacDonald (Ardgay)
The Land Army was not Vera' s first choice but Army doctors thought she was not strong enough for the ATS. When she joined the WLA she felt fortunate in being sent to Buckinghamshire where most of the girls were billeted in large houses donated by their owners for the duration of the war. With the friend she joined up withVera was sent to Little Hampden House which wass a very pleasant house about 30 years old. The WLA slept six to eight to a room in bunk beds. There was a Warden, remembered as a pleasant woman, and two other ladies who did the cooking and house work. Of course the WLA weer expected to keep their rooms clean and tidy and take turns in washing up after meals. During the first two winters, with five other girls, Vera worked for a man who owned a threshing machine and they travelled around to various farms. In the summer she also went to variuos farms doing field work and haymaking. After two she decided she wanted a change and got a job with two other girls on a local farm. She an one of the girls continued to live in the hostel. Each girl had a main job as well as doing other farm work. Vera's main job was looking after the pigs which were reared for the local bacon factory. She was also involved with supervising when the were gangs of P.O.Ws on the farm. The gans were about 16 strong, sometimes German and sometimes Italian. They were needed when there was a big job, such as lifting potatoes or cutting a field of cabbages. She also recalls haveing gangs of girls from the local Borstal but other WLA girls supervised them. Having been country born, although she lived a lot of her life in town areas Vera liked her farm work.
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