Making strides in a man’s world
When Lynn Woodward Davies first considered working as a gillie on the River Wye in the 1980s, her father said, “You can’t do it!” – despite him having worked as a gamekeeper and a gillie himself. But having grown up helping him, she knew she could. “I was invited for an interview, and was asked lots of ridiculous questions, such as ‘Do you like worms?’ and ‘What are you going to do if you want to pee?’” Even so, she got the job. “Some people did look horrified when I’d step out and say ‘Good morning, Sir’. The look on their face! But at the end of the day they would quite often say to the owner, ‘I’ve had one of the best days I’ve ever had.’ And if they came again, they would ask for me, which gave me a lot of confidence.”
Like other women who make up a seemingly rare band to have opted for a life as a gamekeeper or gillie – of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s 13,000 members,
