Hair perfectly set and tied up neatly in a scarf, pitch fork in hand and a bright white smile – the Women’s Land Army posters painted a glossy image of life toiling the soil.

However, as historical writer Dee Gordon found out, life for women who signed up for the Women’s Land Army (WLA) in the Second WorldWar was anything but glamorous.

Dee says: “I would say 99 per cent of women did not anticipate the amount of work they would have to do. Life working on the farms was tough and they had to do long hours and very physical labour.”

TheWLA was established in WorldWar One, but was re-founded shortly before the outbreak of WorldWar Two, in June 1939, to provide extra agricultural labour to ensure Britain would not starve in wartime.

At first only single women between 20 and 30, and widows without children, were called up, but later the age limit was expanded to include women between 19 and 43.

Women could choose whether to enter the armed forces or work in farming or industry.

By 1943, more than 80,000 women were working in the Land Army. They were nicknamed Land Girls.

Local historian Dee Gordon has embarked on a research project about these remarkable women, culminating in a new book, Voices From History: Essex Land Girls, which is out this month.

It includes interviews with some of the last surviving land girls, as well as original sources such as letters and diary extracts, unearthing some truly amazing stories.

Dee says: “A lot of women from Essex who signed up did not stay in the county. Women from London, especially the East End, came to Essex. They seemed to move people to the next available place.

“I spent a lot of time going through the War Agricultural Committee minutes at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford, but there was nothing on the reasons why they were sent where they were.

“Some women who came to Essex later settled here and there are examples of women whomoved as far away as Canada and Australia.”

Essex was a hot spot for agricultural work and only Kent and Yorkshire had more Land Girls than Essex. There were 124 at the start of the war and it peaked at 4,000.

“There is one Land Girl I know of who still lives in Essex and that is Elsie Haysman. She is 92 and grew up in Ashingdon.

Elsie was given a bicycle, as many Land Girls were, and she customised it red, white and blue. She lived in a hostel in East Mersea for part of her time and had to travel a fair old hike to where she was based on a farm.”

Another of the ladies Dee interviewed was Ellen Brown, who is now 92 and living in Canada. She was originally from Leyton and was stationed at a farm in Galleywood.

Dee says: “Her only experience of agriculture before being a Land Girl had been growing tomatoes above the air raid shelter in their back garden. It was a shock for her to come to a farmand have to get stuck in.

“She definitely had happy memories of that time. The reality was quite tough though.

Ellen had to learn tomilk 24 cows a day. She would start at 5am and milk the cows, sterilise the machines and it would be about four hours before she was allowed to sit down for breakfast.”

Dee went through reams of newspapers, diaries and first person accounts to build up the information about Essex Land Girls.

She got a real insight into the lives of the women who worked the fields.

“There are diary entries like ‘muck spreading makes your arms ache’, ‘fed up with hoeing leaks’.

“There were a few surprises. I had expected the diaries to be about the farmwork, but when I read an example of one from a 17-and-a-half-year-old Land Army Girl originally from Walthamstow it was all about boys! There were entries like ‘I haven’t heard from Bert today’ or ‘I didn’t get a glimpse of Frank’. Then I thought about it and what do you expect from a 17-year-old girl?”

There were some opportunities for the females to have fun.

“The women who were billeted to hostels tended to have a good social life compared to those who commuted from home or were based on a farm.

“Lots of them had boyfriends while stationed in Essex and some married and settled here.”

The Land Girls also got involved with some unexpected tasks.

She says: “They helped with the livestock, the drops and even pest control. There is evidence of Writtle Agricultural College where they taught how to lay rat poison, poison worms to kill moles, gas rabbits, ferret down rabbit holes.

“On arable farms where there were stocks of grain rather than livestock they would have had to have kept control of rats.

They would not only eat the grains and harass livestock, but they would have polluted the water too.”

Dee Gordon, who was born in the East End of London, is also the author of Southend Memories, Haunted Southend, the Secret History of Southend and the Little Book of Essex.

Dee researched Essex newspapers at the British Library, the Imperial War Museum in London and at museums in Harlow, Braintree and Mersea.

“In a lot of cases I would ask around at the museums and someone would know information about a Land Girl who was stationed in Essex,”

Dee explains.

Dee explains that the Land Girls didn’t immediatelymove out of Essex after the war, “Many carried on long after the war ended, especially if they enjoyed the work.”

Dee, who is 68 and lives in Southend, loves to throw herself into historical research.

“I am methodical because of years running my own recruitment agency, which I sold in 2000. It coincided with me taking time out to care for my son, who has autism. The combination of writing and escapism with research and being a carer has been a good balance for me.

“The book took me nine months of going back and forth to London to research. I learn as I research and I think if I’m interested in a subject then other people might be too.”

Dee Gordon will be giving signing copies of her book at Waterstones, Southend, on Saturday, April 18, from 11am.