Lily Foulger nee Smith was born in Butley in 1927. Her first job was working for the Governor of the Boys Borstal at Hollesley Bay. She looked after his children but when her father heard that some boys had been whistling under her bedroom window, he had her home.
Her second job was working in Tangham forest. Here she witnessed her friend die (who had moved from London to get away from the bombing) when a fuel tank was jettisoned coming into the airfield. Some of the girls dared her to join the Land Army...so she did!
She did her training at Columbyne Hall in Stowupland and from there moved to Freston to milk the cows for the Paul family. When her time was up there, she moved to Grundisburgh Hall to work for Lord Cranworth. He paid for her to have driving lessons with Mr Buckingham. She was then able to deliver milk around the village. BUT there was another milk round in the village! The Foulger family had their own dairy herd and delivered too.
And a story as old as time... Lily met her rival Geoffrey, they fell in love, were married in 1949 at Grundisburgh church, had four children and were married until Geoffrey died in 2010. Sadly Lily died two years later suffering with dementia while living in a nursing home in Rendlesham. She never talked much about her time in the Land Army, same as most people of her generation. Or is it because we never asked?
Julia Smith kindly provided details about her mother's service in the Women's Land Army and supplied the photograph.
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