Dorothy Fox
Hanging Heaton
Served: 1944 - 1946; Wales
Dorothy lives in Hanging Heaton with her husband Jack. When Dorothy left school she took up an apprenticeship as a tailoress with Dewsbury Co-operative Society. She fast became highly skilled but tailoring had to be put on the backburner when she had to make the first major decision of her young life.
She had to choose between the Munitions Factory, nursing or the WLA. She chose the WLA and has never regretted it for one moment. In May 1944 she reported to Glyn Hall, Pontypool. South Wales seemed to be a world away from Dewsbury Market. Glyn Hall proved to be a sprawl of army-like huts to house the enlisted young women. Every day, from this depot, they were trucked out to farms needing their help. She did every job on a farm except working with animals. She spent her 21st birthday ploughing up a small piece of Wales.
Her colleagues came from all parts of Britain but proved no obstacle to teamwork. They were required to work five and a half days per week, but they often had to put in extra hours. The young women were transported to the farms in open backed lorries. When the cold weather arrived they noticed that the POWs were in covered wagons. One Saturday morning Dorothy and some of the other women became militants and effectively went on strike, demanding the same treatment as the POWs. It worked – from then on, covered wagons.
Another incident illustrates the changes wrought in these young women. Many of them developed a confidence, an independence and a resourcefulness they never really knew was possible. In the winter of 1945 there was five feet of snow on the ground. They were told they could go home for a week’s holiday. There was a major problem – how to get to Abergavenny station, with five miles of snow to contend with. For Dorothy and her friends the answer was obvious, make some sledges and drag your luggage into town. So they did!
Dorothy was demobbed in January 1946. She so much enjoyed her new life, if she had not been heading for her wedding day she would have stayed in until the WLA was disbanded. She has maintained her connections with the organization and at one reunion she met the then Queen Mother. She continues to lead a busy life with the same enthusiasm she displayed when she joined the WLA some 64 years ago. She still remembers those far off days with affection.
Dorothy is cross that it has taken so long to award the women of the WLA the badge. This is not for herself, it is because a friend of hers for over 20 years, and a former member of the WLA, has developed Alzheimer’s Disease and thus will never know that she finally received public recognition.
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