Always in My Heart (36 page)

‘But it’s so unfair, Peggy. Pops worked hard for that money, and now it’s worthless.’ She could feel the tears pricking again and angrily blinked them away. ‘Duffy was a pompous ass, and I had to get out of there before I was very rude to him,’ she added, crushing the half-smoked cigarette under her shoe. ‘He even had the gall to offer me a loan when he knew I’d have a struggle to pay it back,’ she muttered crossly.

‘We should close the account and find another bank,’ said Jane. ‘That would teach him.’

Sarah’s fit of pique dissolved swiftly and she hugged her sister. ‘Maybe it would, but I really can’t be bothered to fill in any more forms today.’

Peggy pulled on her gloves. ‘I propose we go and have a cup of coffee – my treat – at the Lilac tea rooms.
That will cheer us all up and then we can see about finding you both a decent job.’

‘But I thought Anthony was going to test me for a job,’ said Jane as she wheeled the pram into Camden Road.

‘No, Jane,’ said Sarah patiently, ‘he’s going to test how good you are at mathematics, and maybe give you a reference. He can’t give you a job as well.’

Peggy led the way into the tea rooms and they sat at the window table so they could keep an eye on Daisy. The warm, friendly atmosphere and the smell of proper coffee and baking cheered them all up, and once they’d eaten their scones and drunk all the coffee, they were back out into the spring sunshine again, feeling restored.

‘Thanks for that little treat, Peggy,’ murmured Sarah as she tucked her hand into the crook of her arm. ‘I don’t usually behave like a spoilt brat, but it was all such a shock to discover that everything we’d been counting on proved to be worthless.’

‘You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll adapt,’ said Peggy with a smile. ‘My life has been one long adventure of feast and famine, but Jim and I got through all right.’ She became businesslike. ‘There are several recruiting places, but I think the best one is in the Town Hall. They have no allegiance to any of the services, and there’s a far wider choice.’

‘Well, I won’t be trying for a job
there
,’ said Jane as they passed the bank. ‘And if all bank managers are like that, I’ll find something else to do.’

‘That’s good fighting talk, Jane,’ said Peggy. ‘Come on, let’s see what’s on offer in the way of jobs, and then we’ll read all the bumph they’re bound to give us, and discuss all the options.’

The recruiting office was very busy, so they helped themselves to the endless number of pamphlets and slips of paper, and then sat in the WVS canteen and trawled through them.

There was every job imaginable on offer, for it seemed there was an urgent need for women to play their part in the war effort now that so many of the men had been called up – from factory production lines to boiler-making, welding, painting, engineering, fire-fighting, plumbing, secretarial, hospital assistants, milk delivery, and on to farm work, forestry and animal husbandry.

‘I like the look of that,’ said Jane, pointing to the leaflet about the Women’s Land Army. ‘I saw a poster in London, and there were girls out with those big horses in some of the fields we passed in the train.’

‘It’s a tough job,’ warned Peggy, ‘and you’d have to start very early and work until it gets dark again. I think it might be better if you went for something a little less labour-intensive to begin with, and if you really do have a skill at mathematics, then it would be a shame to waste it.’

‘But I don’t want to work in an office, or learn to be a plumber. I want to be out in the open with trees and fields, and horses.’ She turned to Sarah. ‘What about
you?’ she asked. ‘Have you decided what you want to do yet?’

Sarah really wasn’t at all sure about anything, but knew they both had to do something, and if Jane was determined to work on the land, then it would be better if she went along with her – although she didn’t fancy the sound of it one bit.

‘I think we should go and ask about the sort of things we’d be expected to do,’ she said quietly. ‘Then we can have a clearer idea of whether we’re suited to it or not. But Peggy’s right, Jane, we’d both be wasting our skills if we ended up digging potatoes all day.’

‘Why don’t you go and talk to Vera Watkins?’ said Peggy as she stubbed out her cigarette and got to her feet. ‘I’ve known her since we were at school together, and now her children are off her hands and her husband is away in the Navy, she’s doing sterling work for the recruitment people. She’s very nice, and might be able to point you in the direction of something where your skills could be put to their best advantage.’ She shoved her gloves in her pocket and picked up her handbag and gas-mask box. ‘While you do that, I’ll fill in the time by helping out with the comfort boxes. I’ll be in the big hall when you’ve finished.’

Sarah stubbed out her own cigarette as Peggy bustled off. ‘Let’s see what Vera has to say and then we’ll have a clearer idea of what being in the Land Army entails.’ She stilled Jane as she hurried to gather up all the leaflets. ‘It sounds a tough sort of life, and it
won’t all be riding horses and drifting about stables, you know.’

‘I realise that,’ Jane said flatly. ‘But anything’s got to be better than waiting about until the Government calls us up and we’re made to work in some horrid factory. Besides, we’re only asking today, and if Anthony gives me a reference, then I can look at other options.’

Jane was being quite mature about things, so Sarah said no more and headed back to the office to see Peggy’s friend Vera. There were more long forms to fill in while they waited their turn, but it helped to pass the time until Vera was free to see them.

‘We’d like to know more about working for the Women’s Land Army,’ said Jane as they sat in front of the cluttered desk.

Vera smiled at her enthusiasm and took their forms. ‘Let me have a quick look through these first, then I’ll have more idea of who you are and what you can do,’ she said.

She read each form carefully and then placed them neatly on the blotter in front of her. ‘I see you’ve just arrived from Malaya, and that you lived on a rubber plantation there,’ she said, looking eagerly at Sarah. ‘You worked in the plantation office?’ At Sarah’s nod, she hurried on. ‘Do you have any experience of assessing the amount of timber in a tree, of measuring the amount of timber felled, or surveying new woodlands and identifying trees for felling?’

Sarah frowned, for this didn’t sound like farming at all, more like forestry. ‘Our father was a plantation
manager, and over the years he taught me how to measure and survey, as well as how to tap for rubber and plan new plantings. I worked in his office after I left school, and prepared lading dockets, shipment schedules and the transport and customs documents. I have shorthand and typing qualifications, and a basic knowledge of book-keeping.’

Vera smiled. ‘I can see you’re a bit confused,’ she said, ‘but you see there are different parts of the Women’s Land Army that you could join.’ She leaned back in her chair. ‘There’s a great need for women to work on farms and see to it that our crop yields continue to meet the heavy demand now the convoys are finding it so hard to get through. But there’s also a huge demand for timber, and the country needs women to take over the sawmills and work as foresters – which is why a new Women’s Timber Corps is starting up. With your background and skill, you’d be a perfect candidate.’

Sarah felt uneasy beneath her enthusiastic gaze, for she’d never done any of the labouring on the plantation, and didn’t have a clue about running a sawmill. ‘I don’t really think either of us are cut out to chop down trees,’ she said. ‘What would this work entail, exactly?’

‘Goodness me,’ said Vera, ‘I wasn’t suggesting you should work as lumberjills; you’re both far too small and slender.’ She smiled brightly at Sarah. ‘With your qualifications, you’d be in the administration office most of the time, dealing with the wages, preparing dockets and organising transport of the timber, and of
course filling in the documentation for the Ministry of Supply. You would be expected to measure and grade the timber, and from time to time, you might be asked to help fire the brushwood and prepare for replanting. You might even have to do a bit of heavy lifting on the odd occasion – but all in all, you would be in an administrative position and not expected to do manual labour.’

Sarah was warming to the idea. ‘It certainly sounds interesting, and I feel quite confident that I could do it, but this is all a bit sudden and I need time to think about it.’

‘Of course, dear, I quite understand you don’t want to be steamrollered into something so soon after arriving here.’ She turned her bright blue gaze on Jane. ‘And what about you, dear?’

‘I haven’t worked at anything yet,’ said Jane with innocent honesty, ‘but I’d love to be with those lovely big horses out in the forest, and if Sarah and I can work in the same place, it would be even better.’

Vera glanced appraisingly at Jane’s slight figure and soft, elegant hands. ‘As I said before, I don’t think the Timber Corps would suit you, dear. The work is very hard, and you would need to be quite robustly built to be sawing down trees, and lifting heavy telegraph posts and loading them onto trucks.’

‘I know I’m short and thin, but I’m stronger than I look,’ said Jane firmly. ‘Do they have horses in the Timber Corps too?’

Vera clasped her hands on the desk. ‘Yes, they do,
but because they take so much heavy handling, they are always looked after by an experienced male forestry manager or the foreman.’ She must have noted Jane’s disappointment, for she hurried on, ‘Let me tell you what is involved in the WTC, and then you’ll have a clearer picture of how unsuitable I think you would find it.’

Jane glared at her and folded her arms, determined not to be put off by anything.

‘The WTC includes all the jobs involved in forestry, like felling, stripping bark, loading, crosscutting, driving tractors and trucks and running the sawmills as well as working with the men who are either too young or too old to be called up. There would be an initial training course of four to six weeks for the unskilled, after which you would be posted to your work area.’

‘You mean I would have to leave Cliffehaven? Would Sarah come with me?’

‘The training camp in this south-eastern sector is in the Weald, about forty miles away. Sarah would stay here and begin work on the Cliffe estate almost immediately if she got the job, and there is no guarantee that you would be posted back to Cliffehaven. The WTC have nine geographical areas, and you could be sent to Scotland, the Midlands, the West Country or Wales. You would have no say in where you were to be posted, I’m afraid.’

‘I see,’ murmured Jane.

Vera turned to Sarah. ‘The WTC have taken over
Lord Cliffe’s estate, and as you already have a billet with Peggy, you’d be able to get there each day without too much effort.’

‘But once the forest has been cleared and replanted, I would be posted somewhere else?’

Vera nodded. ‘But that is many months, perhaps years ahead. It’s a huge forest and the work is slow.’

‘What about the Land Army?’ asked Jane. ‘Are there local farms I could work on?’

‘There are, but again the labour is intensive and you’d need to be tough both physically and mentally to be able to cope with the conditions. The hours are from dawn to dusk, regardless of the weather, and you would be expected to plough and harrow, dig and harvest, look after the animals and help make repairs to outbuildings. You would find some of the old farmers wouldn’t treat you kindly, for they still hold the opinion that women shouldn’t be let loose with farm implements or their livestock. Thankfully, that attitude is slowly changing.’

‘But couldn’t I just work with the big horses and look after them?’

Sarah was becoming quite alarmed at how determined Jane seemed to be about working with horses, and could only hope that Vera would continue to dissuade her.

Vera shot a glance at Sarah before replying to Jane. ‘They are only a tiny part of the work involved, Jane, and not all farms have them now there are more tractors about. Farming is a tough way of life, and only
a very few girls settle down to it successfully. They seem to have this dewy-eyed image of floating about in cornfields in a cotton frock, or sitting on hay bales in a sun hat, but that’s the poster image – the reality is far harsher.’

Sarah had hoped that Vera’s bleak description would make her see sense, but Jane still didn’t look convinced.

Vera seemed to realise this too, for she regarded Jane, took a deep breath and plunged on. ‘Imagine that it’s four in the morning, Jane,’ she said quietly, ‘and the freezing wind and rain are lashing the muddy yard. The cows have to be fetched from the field to be milked, and once that’s done, they have to be herded back out again so you can scrub the milking parlour clean of all their filth. And this is even before you’ve had time for a cup of tea, let alone breakfast. And then the rest of the day would be spent out in the windswept fields, battling with tractors that won’t start, or trying to plough a straight furrow in mud that reaches to your knees.’

Jane grinned at Vera. ‘You don’t have to say any more,’ she said. ‘You’ve been very convincing, and the picture you’ve painted is nothing like the poster I saw at Victoria Station.’

‘The reality rarely is, but the recruitment is vital if we’re to win this war,’ she replied, and gave her a warm smile. ‘You must think I’m an odd sort of recruiting officer for putting you off, but I think it’s best to try and steer people to the jobs where they’ll get the most satisfaction. My daughter worked in the Land Army,
and she lasted four weeks and was utterly miserable. Now she’s a WREN and driving an Admiral about, and is as happy as a lark. So you see there is a job for everyone – it just might take a bit of time to find out what suits and what doesn’t.’

‘The trouble is,’ sighed Jane, ‘I’m not much good at anything really – only mathematics and puzzles and stuff – and I can’t see how they would help at all.’

‘Don’t get downhearted, Jane,’ soothed Sarah. ‘We’ll see Anthony tonight, and then you’ll have a much clearer idea of what to do next.’

‘There are lots of administration and book-keeping jobs going,’ said Vera cheerfully. ‘I’m sure we could find you something.’