Joining Up – The Women’s Land Army

Women’s Land Army – How to Join

It was not all plain sailing. First I had to find out where to join. It turned out to be somewhere in the center of Liverpool. At the recruiting office I found Lady Denman, who had been put in charge of the WLA, and her office. Veronica and I did all this in the week after war was declared on the preceding Sunday. Today with the ease of gathering information in the comfort of your home through the Internet, we forget what a task that was 60 years ago. To accomplish what we did involved waiting around for buses or trams and taking slow journeys to ask people for information so we could sign up. I thought we were pretty smart about finding out what needed to be done.

Getting the Required Medical Certificate

The preliminary inquiries I made indicated we needed certificates from our family doctors that we were fit. I got my certificate from Doctor Smillie, an old Scot, who had known me from childhood, and therefore knew my home circumstances. I distinctly recall him encouraging me saying “it will either break or make you.” Without his faith in me I would not have received this certificate and the opportunity it opened up, for I had been a sickly child and often under his care.

…and I did! You can see how attractive the uniform was, very flattering.