BUDE LAND GIRL REMINISCES: A Bude woman who recently received a medal recognising the work she did in the Second World War, fondly remembers her time as a Land Girl. Sabina Penny joined the Land Army in 1941, aged 18. Having come from Portsmouth, Sabina said she "did not know hay from straw" and was "thrown in at the deep end". However after seven years in the Land Army Sabina said: "There wasn't anything I couldn't do on the farm." She was initially based in Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire before moving to near Petersfield. She commented: "There was a nice bunch of girls. It wasn't all doom and gloom in the war." Sabina said she was paid 10 shillings a week and worked well over 51 hours a week. She commented: "We did work that wouldn't be passed by health and safety now." Sabina, who has lived in Bude for eight years, ended up marrying a farmer and her son still farms in the New Forest. She said: "My experiences made me a very capable farmer's wife for which I was grateful. I have been in touch with farming ever since." Sabina is pictured above with her medal and a photo of her when she was a Land Girl.

Picture: Paul Hamlyn, Launceston.

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