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I was called up
during the Second World War. I knew that I did not want to join the ATS and have
to salute people and call them Ma’am etc., and do square bashing. Likewise the
WRNS and the WAAFS, so what was left? I felt that I would prefer to be in the
open air and feel free. I did not fancy farm work. Luckily I was in the tramcar
one day going up the Bridges in Edinburgh and I saw a girl in Timber Corps
uniform and right away I thought, “That’s it”! It certainly was the right
decision as far as I was concerned because I loved it, every moment. The fresh
air, the countryside, the company. So when I was asked, “What do you want to
join?” I said without hesitation “The Timber Corps”, and luckily there was no
argument.
A new training
camp had just been set up at Park House at Drumoak near Banchory and I reported
there with the first batch of trainees on
23rd March 1943.
What a beautiful place. What a lovely house overlooking the Dee. There were
wooden huts with bunk beds (about 20 in each of three huts) and another hut for
ablutions. Some trainers lived in the house and one to each hut to supervise. We
went over to the house for our meals and there was a large room on the ground
floor which was used as a Recreation Hall. The fireplace was boarded up so it
would not be damaged. There was no furniture at all in it except for a piano as
the place had just been opened.
We had to report
there the first morning after arriving. I remember us all sitting on the floor
while Mrs Ironside and Mrs Duncan spoke to us. Then they wanted us to sing a
hymn and say a prayer every morning and do keep fit before the day’s routine
commenced i.e. learning how to be a Lumber Jill.
They asked if
anyone played the piano. Everything went very quiet for a while and when I saw
no one volunteering I thought I should. I knew I would be wanting to play the
piano sometime. The end result was that I had to play for hymns every morning
before keep fit and after I had completed my training I was asked if I would
stay on at Park House as pianist. I was assured that I would have the same
privileges as the Trainees and would live in the house. I liked the place so
much that I agreed and was there until the 29th July 1943 when I asked for a transfer as I had gone home for the
weekend when all the trainees left for home, but when I returned I was told I
should not have gone. I requested a transfer and was sent to Beachans Camp at
Dunphail with three other girls who had just finished their six weeks training
course – Jenny, Chrissie and Betty Wilkie, who was a great singer. I looked
forward to working in the woods again. When we arrived at the Beachans they took
one look and said there was no way they were staying there. I said, “Well, I’m
staying”. The camp was about nine miles from Forres, situated right beside a
viaduct, two wooden huts and a wooden dining hut, a wooden shed for ablutions
and dry lavatories. They changed their minds when I said I was staying and
settled in. I think we all quite enjoyed being there actually between the
dancing in Forres and in the village hall at Edinkillie a mile away. I think
back on it and remember seeing the snow through the floorboards of the hut. Our
boots were soaked through with standing in the snow all day and were still
soaked in the morning when we had to put them on again. We asked for wellingtons
and were told that there were none, they had been given to the Italian Prisoners
of War.
I remember that
was the camp I was at when the farmer who provided us with milk was fined for
watering it down. One day when we had finished our meal after a hard day’s work
one of our mates sat laughing and when we asked what the joke was she said that
she had dropped the mince in the muck but of course she hadn’t had any.
I remember being
asked to a dance at Kinloss aerodrome by a boyfriend in the RAF. He promised me
I would get a lift home in a truck but when the time came there was no truck
going my way and we walked back to my camp a mere 16 miles, then he walked a
mile back to Edinkillie to get a train.
One day a notice
came round asking if anyone wanted to go to Park to train as a lorry driver or
tractor driver. I went on the tractor course just so I could go back to Park. It
was a two-month course. I returned to Park on
17th March 1944
‘till 17th May 1944
then I went back to Beachan’s Camp to await a posting as a tractor driver.
There was no
piano at Beachans when I went there first, but one day we were told one was
coming. You should have seen it. There were at least ten keys broken. It had to
be played in octaves all the time so that perhaps with luck one of the notes
would sound, however we were all pleased to get it and had many a good singsong
round it in the Dining Hall. That is where I heard Betty Wilkie sing. She was
good. One evening out of the blue a truck arrived with some soldiers on it. We
had never seen them before. They offered to run us to Forres, so off we went.
They took us to a local café in the Square and bought tumblers of tea for
everyone (cups were scarce). There was a 5/- deposit on the tumblers which was
returnable. I married one of these soldiers and when we were back at Forres
lately we tried to find the café but it was gone and it is not easy to pick out
the exact shop. Even he locals couldn’t help.
There was a big
house in Forres which catered for the Forces and we could go there and get a
lovely cup of tea and biscuits etc. It was usually crowded with WAAFS and ATS.
There was a grand piano in another room which I was lucky enough to be allowed
to play. I remember one of the WAAFS asked me to play the Warsaw Concerto. I
said I didn’t have the music, but she produced it. Fortunately I was familiar
with it.
On 16th
June 1944 I was posted to Muckerach Lodge at Dulnain Bridge as a tractor driver.
I enjoyed it there too sharing a room with Ina Brash whom I met at the reunion
in Perth
in 1992. I am pleased to say that we are keeping in touch. We used to go to the
dances at the Canadian Camps at Carrbridge and Nethybridge and to the pictures
and dancing at Grantown on Spey.
I got my
discharge on 21st June 1945 with back trouble caused by lifting heavy logs. I loved working in the
woods. I’m glad I joined the Timber Corps. I loved every minute of it. It was
great. I often return to Banchory on holiday. I go back to the woods we felled.
The trees are fully-grown again as if we had never been there. It is a pity we
never got a gratuity. So few people have heard of us that we have never felt we
were appreciated.
Scots
at War 1998 |
