Down on the Farm

To continue the theme of my last two posts I met my husband, Don, at a village hop at the church hall in the village of Cranleigh in Surrey. I lived in London , he lived in Aldershot. It came about in this way.
After the war there was a great shortage of shipping which meant that imports of food were very limited. Everyone was encouraged to grow as much food as possible. Farmers needed extra labour so Civil Servants like me were given an extra week's leave added to our annual leave (at that time 2 weeks) if we spent a week working on a farm. Being young and ready to try anything my friend and I volunteered. We were met at the railway station by a lorry and driven a short distance to a tented camp. Two big army marquees, one for men and one for girls and another for the mess hall.
We were told there was a dance in the village that night and so we went. It was a Saturday and we did not start work until Monday. Sitting at the next table were three young men. One came over and asked me to dance. He thought I was a local and when I said I was at the farm camp he said so was he. The three friends were on demobilisation leave from the R.A.F. and had volunteered. We danced together most of the evening and ended up doing the Conga in a long line out of one door, round the Church hall and in at another, holding the person in front round the waist. I didn't know we were going to spend the next sixty years together!