ONE of the last surviving Lumberjills has told of the "hard work" involved in keeping the UK's timber trade afloat during World War II.
Molly Paterson, 101, was one of the thousands of members of the Women’s Timber Corps, recruited to fell trees and feed the ongoing war effort.
Mostly from the big towns and cities, they quit their homes and jobs, many with great trepidation, and ventured into the countryside to wield the axe and saw.
"It was very hard work," Molly, a timber measurer within the corps between 1941 and 1944, said. "We didn't have a tractor or anything. It was very hilly – you know what it is like in Scotland!
"It was all done with horses and drag chains. All the timber had to be drawn out of the forest with that.
"And they had the long saw – there was one at each end. Well, I knew how to do that because I had done a lot of that with my father."
READ MORE: Remembering the lumberjills of World War Two: Women’s Timber Corps founded 80 years ago
To celebrate the efforts of Molly and co., a new mosaic has been unveiled at Grizedale Forest as part of a Women in Forestry, The Lumberjills Story exhibition. The People's Picture features an image of Lumberjill Kathleen Houghton and is made up of thousands of snaps, shared by women from across the industry.
Speaking earlier this year, Forestry Minister Trudy Harrison said: “I know women will play an important role in forestry as we increase tree planting to help nature’s recovery, grow the UK’s timber provision, combat the effects of climate change and reach net zero by 2050."
The exhibition runs until December.
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