Meet Kitty, Ty Coch Resident, and Land Army Veteran

The Women’s Land Army was originally established in 1917 during the First World War and was reformed at the start of the Second World War to provide much needed home-grown food produce.

Women became the new rural workforce, and Kitty was one of thousands of women who would spend their days performing agricultural work.
Having grown up in Ely, Kitty spent much of her time working on farms in the Cardiff area, including Wenvoe. She would travel to a farm every day on a lorry ready to work the land; as she recalls, “I planted a lot of potatoes!”

Kitty’s time in the Women’s Land Army is filled with lots of precious memories. She recalls the time she tried her hand at driving a tractor (though she’s never actually driven a car), the times she was required to remove rats from the farm as they posed a threat to food supplies, and more than anything, the many friends she made and kept in touch with throughout their lives.

One significant moment in Kitty’s Land Army days was when a group of Italian prisoners of war were brought to the farm to carry out agricultural work. They were accompanied by a young man called Charlie Baker – this was a life changing meeting.

Kitty and Charlie married in 1947 and went on to have two children, Marilyn and Brian. Kitty now has five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
It is thanks to women like Kitty, that Britain had the food supplies to support them through the war, and we’re very grateful to Kitty and her fellow members of the Women’s Land Army for all that they did.

Kitty continued to enjoy the outdoors and would spend much of her time at home gardening and planting flowers. She sings often, as she did with her friends during the war, and her rendition of ‘We’ll Meet Again’ is beautiful to listen to.

Thank you, Kitty, for your time in the Women’s Land Army and for bringing us so much joy as a resident of Ty Coch.