Elsie Farrell (née Feasey)

General Information

Elsie Feasey in her Land Girl uniform
Elsie Feasey

First Name(s): Elsie (nicknamed ‘Junior’ by the other girls as she was only 17)

Unmarried Surname: Feasey

Married Surname: Farrell

Date of Birth: 24 May 1927

Place of Birth: Wombwell, South Yorkshire

Date joined the WLA: 12th February 1945

Date left the WLA: 3rd September 1949

WLA number: 153602

Previous occupation: None.

Reasons for joining: Her best friend had joined the WAAF’s.

Reasons for leaving: Developed osteomyelitis in arm socket.

Elsie Feasey in field
Elsie Feasey in a field.
Elsie Feasey with fellow Land Girls
Elsie Feasey (second row of standing Land Girls, third from left) with fellow Land Girls in June 1945 in Swalcliffe.
The names of the Land Girls in the above photograph reading:
Row 1: Jenny Gaines, Jean Smith, Bert Marsden, Betty Hinton, Ivy Edwards, Joan Parker, Jean Haynes, Jessie Batts.
Row 2: Margaret Tarves, Dot Egdar, Elsie Feasey, Veda Rann, Florry Ianson, Joyce Fenton, June Wood.
Row 3: Jo Long, Mary Stevenson, Kit Tarry, Mrs Murray (Warden), Joyce Stacey (Forewoman), Miss Preedy (Cook)
Row 4: Nancy Glistor, Lily Birch, Sylvia Ramsey, Valerie Parker, Audrey Hopewell.

Employment

Pre-work training: Glympton Park, nr Banbury (April 1945)

Employed by: County War Agricultural Committee. Worked on various farms in the Banbury area, Oxfordshire.

Potato picking at Cullam’s, Milcombe (1947), muck spreading at Swalcliffe Park, Hilliers Farm, Claydon (1948), Flax pulling with displaced persons (1949).

Type of work undertaken: Hoeing, muckspreading, beet and potato picking, threshing, flax pulling.

Accommodation: Lived in a hostel, Swalcliffe Manor, near Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Any names of other Land Girls you worked or shared accommodation with: Jean Smith, Betty Hinton, Veda Rann, Ivy Edwards, Joan Parker.

Work liked most: Threshing.

Best and worst memories of time: The camaraderie and meeting her future husband who worked on a neighbouring farm when he returned home from the war.

Opportunities to meet other Land Girls: On the same farm.

Any outstanding events or achievements in WLA or in later life: Making lasting friendships and meeting her future husband.

Elsie’s WLA Release Certificate.
A WLA Christmas card.

Life after the war

Did they return to their pre-war occupation? No.

What was their post-war occupation? Housewife.

How did work in the WLA effect their life? A time that was always fondly remembered.

Any other comments: Sadly, Mum fell a month before her death in May 2016 but recalled her time in the WLA to all the nursing staff as ‘the best time in her life’.

WLA armbands, ties, and badges from Elsie’s WLA uniform.
Elsie’s WLA shoes. Two great granddaughters, along with Elsie’s daughter have dressed up in them.

Contributor Information

Diane Hackling, Daughter

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