Land Girls

The WLA worked did a lot of different jobs on the farm such as:  threshing, ploughing, tractor driving, reclaiming land, drainage etc. The uniform they had to wear was very uncomfortable and itchy. The wage for someone in the WLA over the age of 18 was £1.12 pence a week after deductions had been made for lodgings and food. There was an agreed maximum working week  50 hours in the summer and 48 hours in the winter. A normal week would consist of five and a half days working with Saturday afternoon and Sunday off. Along with their weekly pay, all members of the WLA who was posted more than 20 miles from their home would receive a free rail warrant for a visit home every six months. However, their pay came from the farmers themselves and there is evidence that WLA members were paid less than the accepted rate by some farmers who tended to overcharge for accommodation and food. Also during harvest time, many WLA members worked from dawn to dusk and normally worked 50 hour week. After work they would be lucky if they could get a ride home on the farms. Quite often after they would have to walk miles back to their houses or if they were lucky they would get  a ride on a tractor or a horse. They also worked in factories and if they did they could put their names down for a bath but only some of them got a bath. In the factory's the women were very venerable because German bombers often targeted work factory's.