Jean Forbes Paterson, now 79, joined the Land Army when she was just out of school at 15 and a half.

“I was an unusual case really,” says Jean, “I joined near the end of the war, when everyone was leaving. I was based at Blairgowrie, which was quite local for me, and I was lucky enough to be based in, what was then, a modern cottage with another one girl. I know that other girls were placed in some awful conditions and just had to put up with it.”

A dairy farm was being set up and Jean started work there, milking cows, delivering milk, and she remembers vividly having to get up at 4.30am to start the day’s work. The milk round grew which kept the girls busy, and that gave her enough work, sterilising bottles etc to keep her from being involved in a lot of outside work.

“I do remember the cold, particularly at the back end of the year, when we were outside lifting turnips, after the ground had frozen, your hands would be frozen as well; never since have I been so tired that my legs would shake. But I was very young, I just got on with it.

“There was a lot of fulfilment! I remember walking through the shed after getting all the cows in for the winter, seeing how content they were, and it made it all worthwhile.

Jean stayed in the Land Army for five years, and she does look back with fondness on her time in the service.

“I am delighted that there is, at last, some recognition for the work that we carried out. I loved being in the country, but for some of the city girls, it must have been a real shock. I think it is important for all those ladies who are no longer with us, who also served, that they too are remembered, and thanked. Up until the last few years, we were totally forgotten about, there was no talk about the Land Girls contribution, so I am really happy that it is going to be put right with the erection of some sort of permanent memorial.”

How to donate

Fundraising for the campaign will continue for one calendar year; when the year is up, whatever the total raised at that point, will be used to commission the memorial.

There are two ways to donate at the moment, until charitable status has been cleared – either send a cheque made payable to Land Army Memorial Scotland or LAMS, for short, to Sarah Anderson, NFU Scotland, Rural Centre, West Mains, Ingliston, EH28 8LT, or you can make an electronic bank transfer to:

RBS Corstorphine, sort code 83-19-04, account number 10143949

WLA exhibition

Anyone interested in finding out more about the WLA might like to visit an exhibition entitled ‘Land Girls and Lumberjills’ curated by the WLA memorial steering group member Elaine Edwards, which is running at the National War Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh Castle for the next year. If you would like more information about the fundraising campaign, contact Sarah Anderson at NFU Scotland on 0131 472 4108 or email sarah.anderson@nfus.org.uk