A Land Girl's War

In April, 1941, 18 year-old Joan Snelling volunteered for work in the Women's Land Army. This account shows that as land girls, she and her friends found time amidst the hard toil to attend wartime dances and have romances with fighter pilots.

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In April 1941 eighteen-year-old Joan Snelling, or 'Pop' to her friends, volunteered for work in the Women's Land Army. Within weeks she was duly employed as a land girl at Hoveton Fruit Farm, Norfolk. Here she undertook all sorts of farm work including learning how to drive a tractor. Joan's engaging and witty account shows that as land girls she and her friends found time amidst the hard toil to attend wartime dances and have romances with fighter pilots. Whilst Joan's memoirs detail the perils of wartime life they also provide a humorous insight into farm work, where animals are unpredictable and falling asleep at the wheel of a tractor is an occupational hazard.