Monday 15th July and Saturday 20th July - Exhausting the W.I.

Monday 15^th July and Saturday 20^th July  - Exhausting the W.I.

A Monday visit to the Record Office, I have had a couple of weeks off.  During that time the group has been set up with access to ‘Slack’ so that we can share what we find.   There is also a fantastic list of sources shared with the group, including a list of recorded interviews that are available on CD.  

I am told that these can be ordered through the public library, however, transcripts exist for some of them and are held in the RO.  I order one.     

I spend a bit of time looking at the paper catalogues.   I locate the minutes from Stowupland WI and order them.  There is another Coroners Inquest Report that I want to look at.  

The Coroners report is practically illegible, Bernard Pretty’s writing is very difficult to read, the form has been filled in by someone else prior to the meeting, then he has filled in his part.  

I also look at the 1955 Sale Particulars for Columbine Hall (a WLA hostel location), it includes two bungalow cottages constructed out of Land Army quarters.  

It is then on to Stowupland WI minutes, they are also concerned with fruit preservation and the Boys Brigade Hall becomes a ‘jam making center’, during the meeting of June 1940 there is a “lengthy discussion" the outcome of which is that "sugar to be purchased from Mr. Skinner who would also be asked to help in retailing the jam”

By the meeting held on September 25^th 1940 581lbs of jam had been made all of  which had sold by the November 27^th meeting.

I decide to give up on WI minutes, fascinating as they are (giving an insight into the quantities of jam made during the war years) there is nothing suggesting any link between them and any support for the the Land Army.  Apart that is from the link with Lady Denman. 

I spend the afternoon reading a transcript of one of the interviews.  This proves to be more worthwhile and productive.

Saturday 20th July 

A morning at the Record Office, I am helped by a former colleague from my UCS/Suffolk College days who is on duty, we look at records for Columbine Hall, there are the photos listed in the sources but little else from the war years.  We investigate some old card records and also seek out an education file that turns out to be missing. 

There's a reference to an article in Suffolk Fair from 1974, so I take a look at that, it is about fighter planes and Holton Airfield.   'Schilling's Acres, A World War Memoir' evoked by Christopher Elliot.

I also look at a pamphlet published by the Museum of East Anglian Life, it is all of four pages long by Kate Walters but proves to have a few useful bits in it.   A summary of organisational structure and a little about the role of forewomen and also mention of a National Reunion at the Albert Hall in 1969, this led to the formation of the Anglia Ex-Women's Land Army Association. 

I spend the rest of the morning back on the East Anglian, I find a report on Two Land Girls injured on their bicycles.   It seems odd to me that this minor accident is reported but major accidents are not!

Meanwhile East Suffolk County War Agricultural Executive Committee is concerned that runner bean seed is saved - 25% of this years crop

The W.I and Preserving Problems

Saturday 29^th June, it’s going to be a hot day and it is also busy at the Record Office, there's a lot of people around including two women from Australia, normally it is just a handful of regulars.  Today I am booked onto some search room training.  There are three of us and we are shown highlights from the collection that can be accessed via the catalogue, wills, photographs and sale particulars.   I locate some photographs that are worth looking at.   We are also talked through the other (card) catalogues available to us.   There is a wealth of records that don’t appear on the main catalogue (which I hadn't known about) and bundles of material waiting to be catalogued.  It is a very useful session. 

Once the searchroom session is over I have lunch, the Archivist has helpfully given me a list of WWII sources so I take a look at that before going back to the EADT on microfilm for a short time while I wait until Middleton W.I. minutes that the archivist has located for me appear.

Middleton W. I.  Minutes and Record books 1939-1945 

I make my way through the minutes for the war years, in October 1939 there is talk of welcoming evacuated mothers and opening the hall one afternoon a week for them, however by the meeting of November 6^th the evacuee mothers have left the village.

Monday 29^th April 1940, Miss Hambling arranged with Miss Le Bland to come to the May monthly meeting and give a talk on the work of The East Suffolk Land Workers, it isn’t particularly clear from the minutes if this refers to the WLA or something more general, however, on cross referencing with the Record book it appears that Miss Le Bland came to the 15^th July 1940 meeting and “explained the scheme and the urgent necessity for women to do their part as part-time workers.”

I had hoped that the minutes and record book would yield some references to WLA given the supposed link between the two organisations in terms of making the Land Girls feel welcome.   The overwhelming theme of the minutes is concern over getting jam made, especially in 1940 ...  9^th July 1940 Lady Hambling is recorded as talking about the delay in receiving a permit for sugar and the resulting waste of soft fruit, Miss Hambling (junior?) offers to phone the local food office while Mrs Woolnough, Mrs Bagott and Mrs Burder all volunteer to prepare the fruit.   The jam once made (presumably after they had got the sugar permit) was to be stored in the book cupboard.

By the 23^rd July meeting 113lbs of fruit jam had been made, including blackcurrent, redcurrent and raspberry.   At the November meeting it is recorded that any sugar not used for jam should be used for pickles (chutney).   

I wonder if other village WI minute and record books will be as comprehensive as Middleton.  

A chance find 

I note on the library catalogue at work that we have Irene Grimwood’s book Land Girls at the Old Rectory, this is on Nicky and Vicky’s list of titles so I borrow it.  It is a short book of Irene’s experiences but has some interesting photographs in it, including a group photo of the girls at the Old Rectory Halesworth.  I wonder if Irene is still alive as the book was written in 2000. 

I am getting nowhere with finding any information about Lady Cranworth, I note that Cambridge has some letters.  When I was talking to the Archivist at the record office some ideas had been offered which need following up. 

January 1943 and it’s all about poultry

Saturday 22^nd June, I decide to spend the morning at the record office and then the afternoon trying to organise some of my notes and material.  

I want to follow up on the coroner’s inquest record and see if the event in question was reported in the East Anglian.   I spend the morning searching and can’t find anything.  

The overriding theme of January 1943 is about poultry and applications for poultry farms, there is also a story about egg rationing and how those with a chicken were told to destroy eggs over one per person. 

It is becoming clear to me that I need to organise the mass of paper that I have, it seems a lot but somehow I don’t think it will amount to very much.  So this is my next priority before going any further.  

West Suffolk Agricultural Committee Minutes and a pack to collect

I have had a couple of weeks break and feel that I have lost track slightly.  I have my project pack to pick up, it contains a copy of Nicola Tyrer’s book ‘They fought in the fields’ a USB with a number of files on it, including the Suffolk Review article and a pass to enable copying and printing.

My aim during this visit is to take a look at the West Suffolk Agricultural Committee Minutes and see if they hold any information. 

I systematically work through but am unable to find anything specific.   What is clear is the overarching power that the War Agricultural committees wielded over the regional Agricultural commitees – it isn’t said but you can feel it.

What is nice about the West Suffolk Agricultural minutes is that they are typed rather than handwritten, they could obviously afford a typewriter over in Bury! 

Once again I get used to the structure of the meetings, it is interesting to note that the W.I had a standing agenda item where they document how many demonstrations and talks they have given.  

After lunch it is back to the newspapers, being able to print out helps and I actually come across a photo, of note is that the man overseeing the girls is named but not the girls themselves!  A reflection of the time.   

Outside the WLA bits is a story reported Friday 10^th July 1942 about a butcher in Saxmundham being fined £30 for making up weight of orders with ‘wrong bones" in other words adding additional weight to an order by using bones from a different type of meat, the deputy meat inspector from Lowestoft had been called and found three joints which ‘had bones on them which had no relation to the joint’.  Why do I think this is the kind of thing that would happen today.

After finishing with the East Anglian for the day I ask the archivist on the help desk about an inquest record that says it can’t be viewed because it is in a closed file for 75 years.  We work out that we are just over the 75 years – so it is brought down for me.   Reading it brings a sad end to the day.

Rat’s tails

The following Saturday I head out to the record office again, this time checking I have water bottle, teabags and food before I leave.   

My intention during this visit is to look at the Rural District Council minutes for Gipping.   The volumes when they arrive are huge and also handwritten, initially the handwriting is difficult to read, then there is a change in staff and the handwriting changes becoming so much easier. 

I soon become used to the pattern of the minutes and structure of the meetings which on the whole follow are the same at each meeting, as a result scanning through gets faster.    

I get side tracked, this time by the destruction of rats.  A letter from East Suffolk Agricultural Committee dated 18^th January 1940 asks for co-operation from the committee in the destruction of rats, a campaign was set in motion and 2,102 rats destroyed.

Later in the year at the meeting on 27^th September East Suffolk Agricultural Committee stress the desirability of tails being submitted for payment rather than whole carcases.    It is a fascinating snapshot into the time. 

I find one snippet of information relating to the WLA.

After lunch it is back to the East Anglian.   This time I jump into 1943 – there was quite a bit going on at the time so make some notes.

There is also a brief report on someone making rabbit hutches that are never delivered and a rather disturbing story about the discovery of mummified baby remains wrapped in brown paper, tied up with string and found on top of a wardrobe in a house in Ipswich. 

Visit number one

I’m not really quite sure what to expect on my first visit, but on getting to the Record Office I bump into a friend and former colleague who is doing research into Garrett’s of Leiston.  She is here to take some photographs of material relevant to her research.

Not knowing where to start or how anything works she helpfully runs through using the catalogue with me.   I note down various references that could be useful.   I locate the article in Suffolk Review and make some notes.   There are lots of leads – farms and names that could be followed up.   I also note that the author interviewed various Land Girls, I wonder if these tapes still exist, or indeed are the women still alive.   

After a break I decide to take a look at the East Anglian Daily Times on Microfiche.    I seek some help setting up the machine, and once the screen is at the right size start to work through the paper.   

I start in the 1940s, it’s all very early stages of the war, very much about derelict land and shortage of labour.   I get very sidetracked by general news of the time, trolley-cars seem particularly hazardous with many accidents being reported.  

I leave having found little but with more leads and ideas. 

I note to myself that if I am going to stay any length of time (ie. The whole day) I need to bring food, water and teabags.

First steps

I am aware that I know practically nothing about the Second World War, the Home Front or the Women’s Land Army, this is all new territory for me.   What I do know has probably come from films or the odd documentary that I have watched.  So where to start?   

We have been told that there is free access online to a publication from the time called the Land Girl, it was written for and by the WLA, so I take a look at this, making notes as I go along.   Some names soon start to repeat so are worth following up, I make a note of them, and there is also the county employment returns showing how many women were employed.   I also note there are interesting articles about uniforms!

I also decide to see if any of the databases that I am lucky to have access through my day job throw anything up, firstly I search JSTOR for journal articles and then Bibliography of British and Irish History to get a feel for what has been published.    The JSTOR search brings back a useful article by Brian Short,  Short, B. (2007) ‘War in the Fields and Villages: The County War Agricultural Committees in England, 1939-45’,  Rural History. Vol 18 (2) pp. 217-244.   This gives me something to start with around the structure of War Ag Committees and also WLA representation on them.   It starts the process of feeding my brain, even if the topic is a bit on the dry side!

I also find a couple of useful references in the Bibliography of British and Irish History, both to articles in Suffolk Review, Wyer, H. (2008) ‘Suffolk Agriculture in the Second World War’ Suffolk Review 50 (Spring) pp.2-22.  And most excitingly Burrows, L. (2004) ‘The Women’s Land Army in East Anglia 1939-50’ Suffolk Review 43 (Autumn).   A quick check of record office holdings shows that they have the 2004 article, while we at UOS have the 2008 article.   My plan for my first visit to the  record office is to find the article and see if I can find out anything connected to the names I have found.