Women's Land Army Badge presented to Margaret Martin (Golspie)
Margaret was born and reared in the industrial town of Middlesborough and left school at the age of 14. Her first job, of national importance, was in a factory making of battledress blouses. Like lots of towns and cities Middlesborough was heavily bombed. fortunately her home only suffered blast and on one occasion, after cleaning up the mess with her mother, she went for a cycle ride in the countryside with a friend. After this day in the country she had a strong urge to join the Land Army and eventually persuaded her father to give his permission. When her uniform arrived she reported to Fyling Old Hall in Fylingdale, Robin Hood's Bay. When the farmer showed her the cow byre she asked which were the bulls! After her time in Fylingdale she was transferred to Thirsk Land Army Hostel where there were lots of girls from all over Britain. It was at one of the dances held in the large dining room of the hostel that she met her husband George, a local lad recently demobbed from the Highland Light Infantry after 6 years service. She worked on a diary farm about five miles from Thirsk, cycling 10 miles a day six days a week. The local vet was Alf White who later became known as the author James Heriot whose books were made into a television series. The winter of 1947 was very hard with snow drifts and, when the prisoners of war refused to clear roads, the Land Girls had to do it. The newspapers got hold of the story and it was front page news. George and Margaret married in June 1947
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