Former Polegate ‘Lumberjill’ to celebrate 100th birthday

A former Polegate ‘Lumberjill’ is set to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Molly Paterson, who was part of the Women’s Timber Corps, will turn 100-years-old on Wednesday, April 27.

Joanna Foat, who wrote Lumberjills Britain’s Forgotten Army, said Mrs Paterson was originally a needlework apprentice in a large department store in Dundee, Scotland, where she had to sweep floors, make tea and learn the stitches.

The author said, “She then got a job at home which involved working for the timber section of the Ministry of Supply in Ardbrecknish Forest, Argyll.

“During the war she lived at home in Cladich, near Loch Awe, in Scotland and became a measurer and in charge of wages and knew the names of all the coal mines in the north of England as she dispatched pit props out to all of them by road and train.”