Did you know that in WWII the 'Lumberjills' swung seven-pound axes, felled huge trees by hand, drove tractors and worked in dangerous sawmills?

After the war they were largely forgotten but a new exhibition at the New Forest Heritage Centre which opens today and runs to 17 August, honours the Women’s Timber Corps, known as the Lumberjills, who supplied Britain with vital timber during the Second World War.

Working with author and expert Joanna Foat and Forestry England, this exhibition tells the remarkable story of the young women who left their homes during the Second World War to work in Britain's forests, producing the timber so desperately needed for the war effort.

The exhibition has a special focus on the Lumberjills who lived and worked in the New Forest.