A Yesterday's Witness series of six programmes, being shown throughout this week, with women of the First World War
1: The Two Women of Pervyse
During the Great War the Allies allowed only two women to live and work in the trenches of the Western Front. For three years Mairi Chisholm and Elsie Knocker nursed wounded Belgian soldiers in a front-line first aid post.
MAIRI CHISHOLM , who was only 18 when war broke out, recalls her time at Pervyse: the mud and the rain, the unceasing shell-fire, and hair-raising ambulance journeys : ferrying the wounded behind the ' lines. It was a far cry from what was generally expected of women, even in wartime, and a significant victory in their long struggle for equal rights with men.
Miss Chisholm tells the story with a tremendous humour which does not altogether disguise her great courage.
(SUNDAY MIRROR)
A film of remarkable beauty.
(NEW SOCIETY)
Producer STEPHEN PEET
Directed and narrated by CHRISTOPHER COOK . (Tomorrow at 4.20: Standing in for brother Bob). Preview: p 21