Honouring the army girls
[gallery] They filled the roles of men who had gone to fight for their country – working long and laborious days on farms and in the forests.
And for their mighty efforts, the Land Girls and Lumber Jills of the Women's Land Army and Women's Timber Corps from the First and Second World Wars will forever be remembered in a fitting tribute at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
A sculpture has been specially commissioned in their honour.
And its design has been unveiled to a gathering of former Land Girls in the county with a scale clay model.
When complete, the bronze sculpture will be a one-and-a-quarter life size monument of a Land Girl and Lumber Jill as depicted in war time recruitment posters.
It will become a focal point for remembrance and recognition of the legacy and achievements of the women who kept their country fed while the two conflicts were fought overseas.
The Women's Land Army first formed in 1915 and during the Second World War, more than 80,000 land girls were producing 70 per cent of Britain's food.
The Women's Timber Corps worked in forests and sawmills producing pit props, railway sleepers and barricades.
It disbanded finally in 1946, although the Women's Land Army was required to keep working for a further four years. In total, nearly a quarter of a million Land Girls and Lumber Jills served the country.
The sculpture in their honour will cost between £85,000 and £100,000. Around £65,000 is already raised. It is being organised by the Staffordshire Women's Food and Farming Union – who have set up the Women's Land Army tribute.
The sculpture is currently being worked on by artist Denise Dutton at her studio in Leek.
Her great aunt Sheila Creasy served as a land girl.
It is due to be unveiled at a special ceremony at the arboretum in Alrewas on May 1.
Mary Wright, 83, became a Land Girl in 1947 during the active years of the Women's Land Army after the Second World War until disbandment in 1950. Originally from Walsall, she took up duties on a farm near Hoar Cross near Burton-upon-Trent.
She has remained in farming ever since living and running a farm at Four Crosses near Cannock.
