Former Land Girl keen to contact old pals from her New Zealand home

Feb 26 2009 by Jane Tyler, Birmingham Mail

WHEN Mary Morgan read in the Birmingham Mail about a reunion for local former Land Army girls being held in the city next month happy memories flooded back.

Old Land Girls will descend on Birmingham Council House for two receptions to honour their efforts during World War Two.

But Mary won’t be able to go along and catch up with her wartime pals because she is 12,000 miles away in New Zealand.

But that hasn’t stopped the 84-year-old from wanting to get in touch with her long lost chums.

She especially wants to track down one friend who she got on with very well.

Although she has been living in New Zealand for more than 50 years, Mary – whose maiden name was Kernick – still keeps up to date with the news from her home city through the Birmingham Mail via the internet.

Mary grew up in Rubery and joined the Land Army in February 1943 when she was 18 and stayed there for three years.

She was stationed at Britannia Square in Worcester and also in Oakfields and Tershore.

Mary said: “We mainly worked on local farms with German and Italian prisoners. It was a very happy time for me as I made a lot of friends.

“One of the girls I was friendly with was Margaret Jones, she was around my age, worked as a lorry driver for most of the time and we got on very well. She was very friendly with a bloke called Jack who played in a band. She had a very fashionable streak in her hair which she did with a peroxide-soaked toothbrush and I did one in mine too.”

Land Army girls kept the country running during the war by taking the place of men and working on farms.

“I don’t know why Margaret and I never stayed in contact, I think we meant to but a couple of years after the war I emigrated with my parents to New Zealand where I married a local man called Walter,” she said.

“I kept in touch with a couple of the girls over the years but no one seems to know what happened to Margaret. I wouldn’t even know if she married or what her married name is.

“The last time I saw her was not long before we left Birmingham when I was with my mother in De Greys cafe in Bromsgrove.”

Mary said when she heard about the two receptions she felt sad that she could not go.

“It’s just too far to travel at my age, but I’d love more than anything to be back in Birmingham and catching up with any old friends who might remember me, especially Margaret,” she said.

The receptions are on March 6 and 16.