We heard about the recruitment of the Women's Land Army, ridiculed initially, but proving themselves by their dedication and courage in the often dangerous war time conditions, and by the end of the war, numbering 250,000! And finally we learned of the government's efforts to encourage the civilian population to dig up their lawns and flower beds and turn them into vegetable plots.
Mr Bowes showed slides of the advertising campaigns of the day - the improbably glamorous-looking Land Girl with immaculate hair, and a series of Dig for Victory posters - the first one of which looked so anatomically impossible (the other supporting leg was nowhere in sight) that he felt compelled to investigate it and found that the foot apparently pushing the spade was that of a dismembered tailor's dummy! Later on as he showed us, the posters got much more sophisticated. (See posters below)
For some of us it all brought back childhood memories, (one member remembered being evacuated three times and said how much he enjoyed the experience!) and for the rest of us it provided a fascinating glimpse of a very different period in our history. Mr Bowes was so knowledgeable and brought it all to life very vividly and I'm sure we'll be asking him back again to give us another talk on one of his other subjects.