Mary Bailey
Land Army
The attached photo of a group from the Womens Land Army taken around 1947 in Wales. The woman on the far right is my mother Mary Bailey.
Mary joined the Women's Land Army shortly after the war 1947/48. She trained at Boncath, Carmarthen and worked at Crosshands, Llahndilo Wales. Mrs Lewis was the lady in charge of the Unit/Hostel where they were accommodated at the time.
Mary recounted tales of working on the land lifting turnips and potatoes by hand, having a hard time of it from local farmers who took advantage of the cheap labour. She remembers her close WLA friends Betty Burridge and Dorothy Reece, also Dorothy's sister Olwyn, who lived at Llandilo or Monadilo. Emma Lowther was another close friend in the WLA and she had relatives near Durham.
Mary married an RAF chap, Arnold Hall, they were married near Durham and went on to tour the world with the Royal Air Force. They live currently in retirement in Lytham St Annes and Mary celebrated her 80th birthday earlier this year.
I would love to hear from anybody who might remember Mary or her pals in the WLA.
