Digging for victory; Farming was a key industry in World War II - as the 60th Anniversary of VE Day approaches, David Lloyd met two veteran farmers to hear about life when Dig For Victory was the inspiring slogan.

Byline: David Lloyd

STAN Lewis, a sprightly octogenarian still goes to 'do his bit' at Manor Farm, Eyton, near Wrexham, where in 1939-45 the family farm became subject to the orders of the War Agricultural Executive.

Then, after working from dawn to dusk on the land, he reported for duty with the home guard.

'Remember those were the days when we had no electricity and no piped water,' he recalls. 'We milked by hand using a can and stool, and relied on lanterns when it was dark.

'Twice a day the cattle were walked to the brook for water.

'It was mostly hand work and hard work cleaning out the cows with a brush, shovel and barrow, and bringing in the loose hay.

Manor Farm, now 400 acres, was then a typical mixed holding of 140 acres with a milking herd, sheep, pigs, poultry plus three heavy horses, with just enough grain grown to feed the livestock.

With food convoys at risk, War Agricultural Executive committees - made up of Ministry food officials and farming advisers - were set up to increase home food production and ordered all farms to put a percentage of land down to potatoes and grains.

'That was quite a job because there were very few tractors in this part of the country where we relied on horses, which also had to be fed and watered,' Stan Lewis recalls.

The Lewis family counted themselves fortunate when in 1940 they got their first tractor - a small, grey Ferguson out of a batch from the United States earmarked for farmers in Wales. It cost pounds 225 with a further pounds 25 for the plough.

Having a tractor was fine but all the carts and other tackle used on the farm were built for use with horse power and had to be adapted, using whatever material came to hand.

While those employed in farming, as in coal mining, were exempt from military service they were still expected to do home guard duty.

Many paraded with their own shotguns until armed with rifles and undertook observation from the belfry at The Plassey or street patrols in Wrexham. There was firing range practice at Kingsmills and short camps during the summer. But the pressure of work on the farm increased because the extra potatoes and grain, grown on the orders of the 'WarAg', had to be harvested.

While neighbours were happy to help out on threshing day, especially on farms that offered a generous meal at the end of the day, picking potatoes by hand required reinforcements in the form of Land Army girls or PoWs.

Children were also given potato picking holidays, but for Stan school days finished early because the large number of evacuees from Merseyside meant local children only went to school for half time to allow the newcomers to occupy their desks for the rest of the day. With such numbers, it was recognised Stan would be of more help at home. Petrol and food was rationed and cars were few and far between and had their headlights masked to because of blackout regulations. When there was an opportunity for a leisure break - usually a dance or the cinema - it meant getting on a bike and cycling as far as Chester

When VE Day came there were street parties and after Victory in Japan Day a huge gymkhana was held in Brynypys Park.

Meuric Rees, the chairman of the board of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, also has vivid memories of life at Escuan, Tywyn, between 1939-45. Then a 300-acre all-grass farm, it carried a pedigree herd of dual-purpose Welsh Black Cattle for rearing beef calves and providing milk, sheep, hens and pigs. Two teams of heavy horses provided the traction and the only arable crops grown were oats, barley and mangolds for home feeding and it was Meuric's job to mix the ration. Chopped straw topped with a three-inch layer of chopped mangolds, then another of home-milled oats and barley topped with linseed, left overnight to moisten, provided a home-mix on which livestock thrived.

Farmers ordered to plough up their land were paid pounds 20 per acre, probably farming's first subsidy, and Escuan grew five acres of potatoes which were dyed blue to avoid any being traded on the black market. These had to be stored on farm until the next season's crop was assured.

Picking by hand was a backbreaking task for which it was possible to recruit extra hands through the WAEC and could comprise German and Italian PoWs and land girls. When the hay harvest came around it was all hands on deck, including British soldiers billeted in the area. '

Several had experience of farm work and welcomed a break from their army duties,' he recalls. 'They were not paid but very happy to sit down to a meal of ham and chips.' Permission was also needed to slaughter a pig for the farm.

Although fuel was rationed, young farmers were allowed vouchers to enable them to attend YFC clubs

CAPTION(S):

Stan Lewis (below) and Meuric Rees, now chairman of the board of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (below left, inset) have vivid memories of the `dig for victory' which brought Land Girls and POWs in to help alongside experienced farm hands in the crucial work of feeding a nation at war Stan Lewis picture: JEFF PITT