Land Army veteran in Welshpool remembers VE Day celebrations
A 98-year-old woman residing in Welshpool recalled her memories of VE Day 80 years later after serving in the Land Army in Powys during World War 2.
Edith Thomas, who currently lives in Llys Hafren care home in Welshpool, spoke to the County Times about her memories of serving in the Land Army and experiencing VE Day on May 8, 1945, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the event this Thursday (May 8).
Originally from Salford, Manchester, she joined the Land Army during the war and stayed in the service after the end of the war, being sent to Powys to work in farming as the country continued to recover after the conflict.
She said: 'It was by that time that men weren't working, with so many having been called away for the war so the girls were called up to fill in the workforce.
'I knew I didn't want to go to work in a factory. I did want to join the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) but couldn't speak any French or German. So the next option was to become a Land Girl.
'The girls at Coed Y Dinas were all in the same boat, all roughly the same age and all away from home. So there was some great bonding from that. I made some lifelong friends from the experience.
'We planted potatoes on Long Mountain, putting them in a ditch and covering them in soil so they could be kept for winter, as it was already known that the whole country would be short on supplies by then.'
On VE Day Edith found herself travelling to Stepney, London, with a group of other Land Girls and celebrated in the streets with thousands of others as news of the war's end in Europe broke.
'I spent four years in the Land Army and then happened to be on weekend leave and travelled to London with some other Land Girls on VE Day when news that the war was over came through," she said.
'I just remember people cheering and cheering as if it would never stop. You could feel the huge outpour of relief from everyone around you.
'There's a lot of fondness for that time but it wasn't a nice experience. The fear or sirens and running into shelters. It upended everything we thought was normal.
'I had a good time at Coed Y Dinas and was lucky being there. It's strange to feel lucky at a time like that when there was so much trouble in the world around you.
"But I also remember how suddenly everything changed. I could even remember lying awake at night and hearing the lonely sound of a train in the distance, wondering if I'd ever get to go home and if things would ever return to normal.'
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