Margaret MacFadyen - Timber Corps – with Dolly the horse at St Catherines – circa 1945
Fiona Campbell has provided this lovely image of her mother Margaret and horse, Dolly, paused from work of dragging timber during the World War II period. Twenty three year old Margaret MacFadyen originally from Duror of Appin joined the Timber Corps in January 1943 and after a training period at Shandford Lodge, Brechin, she was transferred to the Strachur area and accommodated with other Timber Corps ladies in Letters lodge. The Timber Corps were assigned to work supplying wood from the local forests to a sawmill at St Catherines where much needed pit props were cut and prepared. Following demobilisation after the end of the war Margaret and another Timber Corps member, Gerty Mann, married two local Campbell brothers and stayed in the area.
Note the Clydesdale type horse harnessed with bridle, collar and hems with side chains passing through a back band and onto the ends of a wooden swingletree. A chain was wrapped around the butt ends of several full length felled and sned trees and hooked onto the swingletree. The drags of timber would then have been pulled down to a loading area for transfer by vehicle to the mill or directly to the mill if it was in the forest. This was usually very muddy work as the horse had to be guided out of the forest on specific routes that inevitably were churned up by the dragged timber and horse’s feet. Margaret at least has some canvas type gaiters to help keep her clothing dryer and fairly clean.
See the PDF link below to see an approximate copy of Margaret MacFadyen’s Timber Corps Index card showing that she joined in Jan 1943 and was released in March 1946. She worked for the Home Grown Timber Production Department (HGTPD) at St Catherines camp.
Fiona has also very kindly sent a written copy of her mother’s memories of her time as a Timber Corps volunteer. Special thanks must be awarded to Hannah McMurray who as part of her Standard Grade school studies interviewed Margaret Campbell (nee MacFadyen) on her Timber Corps experiences and skilfully wrote up the detail. She has produced an invaluable record of the attitudes, conditions, clothing, on the range of young women who volunteered during the war, their hardships and also their leisure activities.
“Margaret Campbell – TIMBER CORPS
TRAINING - Margaret thought it would be fun joining the Timber Corps but it was hard work. They were sent to Brechin for a month's training.
She thought she would never be able to do the work. You had to cut a mouth shape out of the tree with an axe and then someone else took the other end of a five foot saw and worked with you to take it down.
On the first night at the Training School Margaret spoke of being on a top bunk and hearing someone crying and wondering who was upset. When she investigated she found it was a girl in a top bunk further along. When she started talking to her she discovered she was from Glasgow and was only 15. She had said she was 16 and was frightened someone found out her age as she was too young to be out working in the forest. However it wasn't discovered and she was sent to Strachur too. She was a great worker.
UNIFORM - They wore breaches, khaki shirts and green jerseys. They were given shoes with steel toe caps and heels but they were not able to give Margaret a size 3 so they gave her coupons and she bought children's shoes instead. They also had gum boots but as she had been given a size 4 she knitted a pair of socks from rug wool. She used six stands although they didn't wear well they were nice and thick to fill up the boots.
They wore their uniform to the dances.
They used to have a lady who came round to sell make-up. It was called 'Outdoor Girl'.
They felt very lucky that they were in a house as some other groups were in huts which would not have been so comfortable especially in the cold weather.
Among the girls there were secretaries and beauticians. Margaret remembered a girl who had her nails and hair done beautifully. There was someone who had worked in a Hairdressing School as secretary. When she went home at the weekends she always came back with her hair done. Margaret was saying she cut her own hair using two mirrors - one in front and one behind and she would take hold of a 'lump of hair' and cut. One time someone cut her hair with clipping shears. She was frightened by the noise but it was done very quickly!
Some of the girls who came found it too hard and had to give up. There were two girls who had been drinking which was unheard of in these days. They had bottles in their room. The landlady was very upset and spoke to the Boss. He told them they would have to go but they didn't like being there anyway.
FOOD - The landlady was very good at cooking and they got rabbits easily as her husband was a Gamekeeper. They enjoyed the way they were cooked in batter. They always had something cooked for breakfast. Sometimes they were given powdered egg which some of the girls couldn't stand and preferred to just take bread. They did get apples from England but missed oranges and bananas.
WORK - They worked a five day week but sometimes when Margaret was working in the saw mill there was a big order in so she had to work on Saturday too.
They travelled to work in an open lorry and they were given a tarpaulin as a cover. In winter when it was snowing it was horrible as you couldn't breathe properly under the cover, but when you pulled it down the snow came in!
When they were taking down a tree one day there was a sapling in the way so they were cutting it down. Margaret was leaning on it to hold it down and it sprang up from the ground and hit her. She went flying backwards and landed on the ground seeing stars! She must have been out for a minute or two. She heard the girls shouting and thought she was telling them that she was all right, but evidently she didn't. She got the rest of the day off and a lorry was commandeered to take her home.
Working with logs in the sawmill in the winter was difficult. Logs went on the bench to go through the saw. You had to turn them over as you worked. When they had snow or ice on them they were very slippery. When the saw miller shouted to keep clear it was slipping you were always frightened you were going to end up with a heavy log on top of you.
Margaret worked with the horses for a while. When it rained heavy for a certain length of time the horses were taken into the stable but the girls were given another job and had to stay out.
They used to take the horses into the water to get the mud off their hooves.
The wood was used for pit props and other purposes and was taken to Arrochar where it was transported by train.
One girl worked in the office with the Boss. They would measure the cube of trees to know how well they had done in the day.
ENTERTAINMENT - The girls travelled to Dunoon to go to the cinema and later on there was a travelling cinema that showed pictures in Strachur hall.
They met some rather nice boys from different units stationed around. There were Army and Navy camps in Inveraray and the girls used to get asked to dances there. The landlandy thought it was all right for them to go as they took place in the Officers' Mess. The girls were picked up by boat.
There was a nice group of Canadians stationed in Inveraray that they got to know. They had singers and a piano and someone that played well so it was quite a good night. When the Canadians went home they sent a lovely food parcel to the girls. Margaret said how wonderful it was to get it and particularly remembered enjoying the tins of cherry jam (ration was 1lb jam a month).
The local boys used to come down sometimes at night and they used to stand round the house and whistle to the girls. One night when the boys were at the front door Margaret remembered Mary asking her to go upstairs. They filled ewers with water and because Mary was taller she was able to reach out the top bathroom window and pour them over the boys, while Margaret kept filling the ewers. They scattered them one or two nights that way!”
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Horses at work in Forests, Women's Timber Corps - Timber Jills