Book edited by Elaine M Edwards

This lively and informative book is the latest in the Flashback series published jointly by the European Ethnological Research Centre and the National Museums Scotland.

The editor introduces us to the Scottish Women’s Land Army (or ‘Land Girls’ as they were affectionately known) which began during World War One. By 1917 Britain was facing starvation due to the increased number of U-boat attacks on shipping. In response the Land Army was formed. These young women took on agricultural jobs thereby releasing more men to fight at the front. So successful were the efforts of the Land Girls that when war seemed imminent again in 1939 the Land Army was reformed in June, three months prior to the outbreak of war.

The girls’ stories are told through the recollections of just a few of the women who served amongst the 8500 Land Girls in Scotland during World War II. The text combinations first hand accounts with interviews held with the editor. The collection vividly brings to life the girls’ personal experiences and highlights their daily work which included all aspects of agriculture from sowing to harvesting, rat killing to calving, operating machinery and driving lorries. The girls also recalled their social lives, whist drives and dances, trips to the cinema and meeting the locals, a number of the girls found their future husbands whilst working in the Land Army.

The centre of the book has a lovely photographic section. Each of the girls is shown either in her working uniform undertaking farm duties, in a formal studio portrait proudly showing off her dress uniforms or enjoying a little time off.

The book ties in with an exhibition at the National War Museum (within Edinburgh Castle) Land Girls & Lumber Jills which runs until February 2011. It retails at £7.99 and can be purchased from the National Museums Scotland, Publishing, Chambers St. Edinburgh. www.nms.ac.uk Tel. 0131 247 4026.