JUST a month after World War Two broke out, the Ministry of Agriculture launched a slogan which was to become one of the most memorable of the whole conflict Dig for Victory.

Food supplies were at an all-time low, and the Government called on the people of Britain to turn their gardens, allotments and lawns into vegetable patches.

In Watford, parts of Cassiobury Park, Watford Fields and The Harebreaks were given over to allotments, which provided essential crops for families and neighbourhoods.

Last weekend, months of hard work by Watford Museum and a variety of volunteers culminated in an exhibition about Watford during the war and the Dig for Victory campaign.

For many visitors, it was a trip down memory lane a reminder of the difficult times faced during the war.

For others, it was a voyage of discovery, where the sights and sounds of World War Two were brought to life with the help of actors, dressed in authentic clothes of the time. The museum cultivated its own vegetable patch and used the exhibition to display its home-grown goods.

Letters and artefacts from the war were displayed alongside information about Watford's role during the war, including the vital role women played helping out on farms and in factories.

There was also live music from The Watford Band, a performance from local theatre company, the Moonlight Theatre Company, and a chance to come face to face with one of the UK's only working Bren Gun Carriers.

The event was the combination of efforts from a wide range of volunteers from a variety of bodies.

Sarah Priestley, from the museum, said: "It's been really fantastic and so many people got in touch to help out.

"It was all completed in the same spirit as World War Two, with people wanting to come along and volunteer.

"The Dig for Victory exhibition also ties in with current themes of healthy eating and organic foods.

"The patch of land we have used to grow our vegetables is exactly what you would have seen in Watford during the war."

Bren Gun Carrier

Barry Read, from Croxley Green, brought his Bren Gun Carrier to the exhibition and it was his contact with the museum that sparked the idea for an exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.

He owns one of the eight remaining Bren carriers out of 150,000 that were made. Out of the surviving eight, only three are in working order and Barry's is one of them.

He said: "My father drove a Bren Gun Carrier when he was in the war and it was always his ambition to find one to own.

"We eventually did find one on a farm up in Milton Keynes, where it had been used as a tractor.

"What is nice about owning one of these is that a lot of the parts for the Bren Gun Carriers were made locally, and I would love to find someone who worked somewhere where they were produced."

During his research of the war at Watford Museum, Barry asked the staff whether they had thought about doing an exhibition on the war in Watford.

He offered to bring his carrier along to one and gradually plans for last weekend's exhibition were born.

The carrier is no stranger to public events and always draws a good crowd.

It has made several appearances at a variety of exhibitions and it recently made a trip to Normandy to mark celebrations there.

Barry said: "Veterans love it and they all know what it is straight away.

"Most of those who remember it were drivers, but the actual carrier could hold between two to five people, depending on its size."

Following last weekend's exhibition, Barry is preparing to take the carrier to a festival at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Watford and the war

Women and the war

At first, women were able to volunteer for the armed service of their choice, but in April 1941 the Government asked childless single women under the age of 30 to sign up for certain types of work.

Women in the armed forces worked hard and faced many dangers.

The women of Watford took over many jobs that were normally done by men. Many became factory workers, mechanics and truck drivers. Leavesden Aerodrome was used to make Halifax bombers and repair De Havilland Mosquito bombers. Betty Lambert was a worker at the Aerodrome when they made the last Halifax bomber in 1945.

She said: "Every able-bodied worker was there that day. They stood on the wings, on the fuselage and on the nosecone.

"They caressed it lovingly wherever they could, as if it were a member of their own family. Reporters from the local paper were busy jotting down notes. But for us, the workers, it was a sad day, the end of an era of great comradeship the like of which has seldom been expressed since."

An extract from: 1939-1945 Through The Eyes of a Teenager, by Betty Lambert.

The Women's Land Army

By May 1940, there was a food production crisis on Britain's farms. Many farm workers had gone to work in factories to help make war machinery. British farming had relied on many imports from the US and Europe before the war, and when these imports stopped, the food production target was not met. The Land Army was formed and encouraged anyone not in service mainly women and schoolchildren to go out onto farms and help with a variety of duties.

About 20,000 Land Girls were working on farms by the spring of 1941. In Watford and the surrounding areas, the Women's Land Army was particularly busy. Highfield Farm, Bushey, used the women's services and other farms in Kings Langley and Abbots Langley followed. Women were paid about 22s 6d a week, and worked more than 50 hours a week. The Land Army successfully helped double Britain's food production from 1940 to 1945.

Air Raids and schools

The air raids of Watford during 1940 and 1941 caused a lot of disruption to regular routines, including those at home and school.

The constant alarms and warnings at Holyrood School caused many children to be absent for long periods of time.

The school was closed for a week in 1940, along with many others in the area.

The school logbook of September 2, 1940, reads: "Wire netting has been fixed to main windows. An air raid lasting from 8.10am to 8.50am kept many children away. The intensive raids of last week have made the children more accustomed to the idea of raids and they are not so panicky when we have shelter practices."

The Watford Home Front

Preparations for World War Two had begun in Watford before war was declared in 1939. Queues of volunteers immediately appeared at Watford Police Station when men were called to join the Home Guard.The 6th Herts Battalion was formed in Watford by the chairman of Benskins, Colonel Briggs.

The Watford Home Guard went on to become three battalions and inspired Jimmy Perry to write the comedy Dad's Army, based on his experiences as a young recruit.

In Watford, winning the war became the priority for industry. This included printing maps and propaganda material that was dropped by plane into Germany.

The Building Research Station in Garston was involved in the war effort, creating the bouncing bomb used by the Dambusters.