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Farmers Although the farmers received help from the POW's, they relied very heavily on those boys in the village aged between 10 – 14 to help with farm duties when school had finished for the day. My first exposure to farm activities was with Joe Britten who owned the farm (Top Farm) on the corner of the Kimbolton Road. He had sheep and the only dairy herd in the village of twelve cows, that were milked twice a day. The milking shed was the white building on the left hand corner, his cottage was in the laneway directly in front of you as you went to turn the corner and opposite where the Eady's lived.
My first job after school was to bring in the cows for the afternoon milking from the field behind the Alms Houses, they really didn't need much herding. Usually they were always waiting at the gate, Bluebell was the lead cow and none of the others would move until she did; then it was single file to the dairy to be milked. Joe only had two stalls for milking and it was amazing to see the pecking order, Bluebell first, then each one by name followed. I don't ever recall them getting out of sequence. Milking was by hand and villagers would collect their milk in jugs or whatever they had available, about an hour after milking had finished. My next job after milking was to muck out the yard with a shovel and wheelbarrow, it was another year before I was taught how to milk a cow by hand, fortunately I never got kicked only swiped across the face with the tail on numerous occasions.
My main exposure to farming was with George Britten who owned Middle Farm in the main street of the village. Double Summer Time was invoked by the government which allowed farmers to keep working till 11.00 pm. during the summer and autumn months in order to get the harvest in. I was 11 years old and couldn't get home from school quick enough to swallow tea and work on the farm with other children from the village.
George had a John Deere tractor (the model that had the front wheels set close together with spiked rear wheels) and two Clydesdale horses. The tractor and horses were kept at the farm. He needed ration coupons for fuel for the tractor which was in short supply so it was used sparingly. Art See used the Clydesdales to pull the reaper and binder, we would follow behind picking up the sheaves and standing them in stooks ready for the POW's to load them onto a dray and take them to the threshing yard. A stack was created as the sheaves were unloaded from the dray and were not threshed until all the crop was gathered. The threshing yard was located downhill from the bakery in Water Lane opposite the field behind the Alms houses. There was an open sided, roofed building facing into the yard, that backed onto the lane where the threshing machine, and reaper and binder were stored when not in use.
The threshing machine was belt driven from the power take-off of the tractor. I had the dirtiest job of all to remove the full chaff bags from the back of the machine after the wheat was separated from the ears. Dust from the chaff was everywhere, up your nose, in your mouth, down your clothing which made you itch like mad. I wore a handkerchief over my nose and mouth to try and stop breathing it in.
The August school holidays found me on the farm everyday and it was during this time that I had my first contact with the Italian POW's. George had a lot of difficulty getting them to work, for some reason the days I had contact with them they worked like navvies, doing the equivalent of two days work in one. From then on, every time he knew the POW's were coming he would contact dad and asked if he could spare me because I was the only one who could get them to work. I don't know why or what it was that made them work whilst I was there, maybe they didn't like an eleven year old shaming them. |
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