Thame Land Army girl thanked by Prime Minister
A THAME woman joined other ex Land Army girls at Downing Street yesterday, to receive a special ‘thank you’ and a Badge of Honour from the Prime Minister.
Gordon Brown told the ladies, including Freda Castle from thame: “The Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps worked tirelessly in the war years to keep this country going by providing food and supplies, and timber for the war effort. Their work was absolutely vital, and it is right that we thank them now for their dedication in the service of their country.”
Freda, originally from Sheffield, arrived in Thame in 1944 when she was 18 years-old and called up to assist the war effort. Here she worked for James Holland who had a farm in Thame Park Road, after attending a crash course at a college ‘for the sons of gentlemen farmers’ in east Sussex, where 20 girls a week were taught how to milk cows and other skills including hedge laying.
Freda told Thamenews.net: “The first thing we were told was to cut our nails for the comfort of the Jersey cows who had to be milked by hand because they didn’t like the milking machines. My first posting was to a farm in Shipton-Under-Wychwood which was a huge farm with 300 cows and six bulls but I didn’t do any milking there, my main job being to steralize all the milking equipment.
“I stayed their for a few weeks and then moved to lodgings in Queens Road with a woman who had a young family and a baby on the way, whilst working at Jim Holland’s farm in Thame. Here, with a Thame girl, Jean Aldridge and others, I was responsible for taking the ponies out of the field every morning and getting them ready to pull the milk dray around Thame where we delivered milk from churns on the back.”
When she joined Thame Players in 1945, Freda met and married Peter Castle, whose family ran the local toy shop where Austin’s is now, and a printing works at the back.
She finally relinquished her job at Holland’s farm in 1946 when Jack Howlett, whose job she had taken over when he went to fight in the war, was demobilised and came back to his old job.
Freda, and Peter who died in 1973, had three children, a son who now lives in the Faulkland Island, another who lives in Australia and a daughter who lives in Bristol.
Freda now shares her life with her partner, also called Peter, in Nelson Street, Thame, and is still a much-valued member of Thame Players, often manning the box office.
As Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said when he presented the former Land Girls with their badges of honour, “The nation owes you a huge debt of gratitude for your determination, courage and spirit in the face of adversity”.
WATCH A VIDEO
OF THE CEREMONY AT 10 DOWNING STREET YESTERDAY (23/07/08)
