DALBY Forest is the setting for The Lumberjills, the latest play by Common Ground Theatre, telling the stories of women who worked in Britain’s forestry trade during the Second World War.

Written by Hannah Davies and directed by Tom Cornford, it is set in a woodland glade in a 1940s' world of gramophones, tree felling and tea dances.

This is a poetic and dramatic celebration of the unsung Women’s Timber Corps, set up in 1942 as an off-shoot of the Land Army. More than 9,000 young women from all over Britain left home, many for the first time, and were posted to forests to carry out felling and crosscutting trees by hand, measuring and sawmilling, loading and driving.

Women from all backgrounds were employed to undertake the crucial work to supply desperately needed timber for the war-time economy.

The Lumberjills tells the story of Mary, Connie and Ada. The state thinks it will take three women to replace every man, but they prove themselves sturdier and stronger than given credit for.

Dates are July 20 to 31 with performances at 2pm and 6pm, suitable for children over seven. Book tickets on cgtheatre.co.uk.