The sometimes overlooked role of the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War will be celebrated as part of a new national tour.

Exploring this role in a new play, Lilies On The Land will hit the stage for two performances at Lowestoft’s Marina Theatre next week.

With farmers struggling to meet demand as men were called up, it was the nation's women that took up the call to keep Britain’s mouths fed.

The selfless women of the Land Army never forgot their experience during the war - and it is from these letters, diaries and remembrances that theatre company 'The Lions Part' originally created Lilies on the Land.

Emma Butler Smith, now chief executive of the Marina Theatre, worked for The Lions Part, the company who devised the piece back in 2001.

Following an open letter in Saga Magazine asking for any memories of the Women’s Land Army, 140 letters flooded in with memories, recollections, newspaper cuttings and wartime memorabilia.

Mrs Butler Smith said: “It took days to sift through the boxes of letters received - many accompanied by photographs - with stories of hardship, comradery, friendship and adversity leaping off the page.

"The company devised Lilies on the Land from all those memories.”

Emma was general manager for The Lions Part, playing a fundamental part in bringing the show to a wider audience and getting the script published.

Having then produced the West End London run of 2010 and further UK tours in 2011 and 2012, Emma was particularly excited to be able to bring this new tour from Apollo Theatre Company to the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft.

She said: “Working on Lilies on The Land framed a really memorable part of my life and the show still holds a very special place in my heart.

"As a history freak, a theatre maker, and as a woman Lilies has a lot of resonance with me.

"So naturally when Apollo Theatre Company approached us with this tour it didn’t take me long to say yes.

"I also think that as a rural area which played a big part in Britain’s agricultural progress during the 1940s, the play will really resonate with people in Lowestoft and East Suffolk."

Lilies on The Land will be performed at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft next Thursday, October 6 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.