On the Land: In Northumberland

I went to work at age 14 in Wooler doing domestic work.

I was called up for the Land Army in 1944, and I went to a farm at Learmouth, near Cornhill on Tweed. There were four girls in a cottage - I was the only one from the country, the rest were from the town. We had to cycle a mile to the farm, starting at six in the morning, had an hour for our lunch and finished at five. We had our meals made for us, but had to cycle back to the cottage for them.

We did all sorts of jobs, like singling turnips, threshing, stooking, hay pikes, gathering potatoes, feeding the stock. It was quite easy for me but not for the girls from the town. Some of them couldn't carry on and they went home.

I was there for 4 years until 1948. Then I got married - my husband came home then - he had been at Dunkirk, in Africa and Italy.

Hilda Humpherson

c/o Northumberland County Libraries

© Copyright Hilda Humpherson

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WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar