Iain Wright, MP for Hartlepool, this afternoon presented Mrs Florence Clark, a local Hartlepool lady with the first Land Army Badge in the town. The Badge is in honour and recognition of her dedication and hard work during World War II. The presentation took place at Mrs Clark’s home with Florence’s son, daughter and two grandchildren there to witness this much deserved honour. In addition to the Badge, Mrs Clark also received a certificate signed by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Women who worked the land during World War II to keep Britain supplied with food and timber can now apply for a badge commemorating their efforts. Government has recognised that their wartime efforts are now honoured with the presentation of a special badge commemorating their service that can be worn on Remembrance Sunday and at other ceremonies.

Iain said:

“It was a real pleasure and privilege for me to visit Mrs Clark and present her with the first Land Army Girl Badge to be issued in Hartlepool. I was particularly pleased to present it to Mrs Clark, who is a lovely lady and had a great story to tell.

Service is often considered an old-fashioned term, but the hard work, dedication and service to our country that Mrs Clark and other women made in the face of the Second World War should never be forgotten. The Badge is a small token of the country’s gratitude.”

The badge is the first official recognition of the contribution made by members of the Women's Land Army (WLA) and the Women's Timber Corps (WTC). If you were a member of the WLA or the WTC during the Second World War and would like Iain to apply for a commemorative badge on your behalf please get in touch 01429 224403.
To read Florence’s fascinating story of her time in the Women’s Land Army, told in her own words click on the Articles section of this website.

Iain took part in a ceremony today as work started on a new £19m health centre in Hartlepool.

The former Barlows site, in Park Road, Hartlepool will be transformed into a new state-of-the-art health centre that will provide a wide range of services in the heart of the community.

Work on building the health centre is due to be completed in around 90 weeks and will provide four GP practices, community dentistry, pharmacy, diagnostics and out-patient procedures including surgery that were previously only available at hospital.

Iain said:

“I am pleased to see the flagship health facility for Hartlepool about to begin. The health centre is at the heart of the town and will see Hartlepool receive vast improvements in health facilities and services in the community. This new health centre will be the envy of other areas and provide a real boost for health provision in Hartlepool”

Steve Wallace, Chairman of Hartlepool Primary Care Trust said:

"It is a well designed building that is going to be welcoming, light and airy and it is going to have the latest green technology.

"Everything about it is cutting edge and the services coming out of it are going to be cutting edge.

"We have a 90-week build and at the end of it we will have a £19m health centre that will be state of the art and accessible for the whole town."

Ali Wilson, PCT director of health systems development, said:

"We are confident the new facility will be something local people can be really proud of.

"It will provide an excellent environment in which patients can receive their care and in which health service staff can work."

I remember working for the Forestry Commission in Bury St. Edmunds along with two other girls from the North East, who joined at the same time. One of our jobs was sawing large tree trunks; we had to stand each side of a double ended saw and were taught how to use it. I remember having to shout TIMBER for everyone to hear and being told to shout so others would stand back for safety. The tree trunk was then put onto a machine to be split, fed through by a piece of ‘hand-held wood’. I remember on one occasion my tree trunk became stuck and I put forward my other hand to help it through, not realising the danger. My hand was immediately grabbed by a senior worker and pulled back; otherwise I may have lost one of my thumbs.

Whilst there I suffered terrible homesickness and wanted to come home as soon as I arrived. During my time in Bury St. Edmunds I got sunstroke while working in the hot sun, then tonsillitis and ended up in the cottage hospital. I had to return home then and spent some time working on a dairy farm in the North East area, milking cows, feeding the bull and whatever else was required. From there I was sent to Darlington. I lived in lodgings in the Westgate area and cycled each day to work on a farm on the outskirts of Darlington. The farmer’s name was Mr Yole and he lived there with his wife and daughter.

I worked in the fields with Italian Prisoners of War who were stationed nearby in a Prisoner of War camp. They were dropped off each day at various farms en-route. We worked in the cold weather snagging turnips – I remember it being very, very cold. I remember during the winter cycling to work one morning and my bike skidded on ice on the road and being helped by a man also cycling to work somewhere. I was a bit bruised and bleeding but had to carry on to work – VERY HARD WORK.

Not all farmers were happy about girls working on the land but at the end they admitted that the girls were capable of doing a good job.

We started work at 7am, worked until 9am and then went to the farmhouse for breakfast of porridge, milk (fresh from the cow) and homemade sausages. The farmer’s wife gave us good breakfasts. The Prisoners of War were also invited for breakfast, I remember them being just ordinary young men suffering great homesickness – something we all shared.

I remember two in particular – Mario and Guido. One was a tailor back in Italy but I can’t remember what the other one did for a living. When they returned home they kept in touch by letter which I remember taking to an Italian ice-cream shop in Stockton Street in Hartlepool to be translated.

While still in the Land Army I got married to my husband John who was in the Merchant Navy. The farmer’s wife gave me six fresh eggs to go in my wedding cake, a luxury at the time.

There was a large Land Army Camp in the North East, I believe many girls lived there and went to work on farms together, whereas I lived in lodgings. There was a NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) which held social evenings and dances on Saturdays. Also a Lady of some nearby hall invited all Land Girls in the surrounding area to one or two social evenings. I just can’t remember her name. Being on my particular farm alone I was grateful for these social get togethers to keep in touch with other girls in the same situation.

When I was a school girl I remember every summer holiday going with my mother and brother to help with the haymaking at my Aunts farm in Stanhope. I loved the countryside and when war started I wasn’t old enough to be called-up but when I reached seventeen in 1942 I joined the Land Army.

My first job on leaving school was a the Doll Factory on Thorpe Street next to the ‘cinema that never was’ The Comet working for a German couple Mr and Mrs Katz and his sister. When war broke out they were interned. The outbreak of war was the reason for the cinema not opening. I left to go to the Cerebos factory where again I cycled from Lilley Street on the Headland to Greatham, where I bottled salt amongst other things. I am not sure what happed to the Doll Factory. The ‘cinema that never was’ never opened but was used for storage.