Letters to the Editor - March 2011

At harvest time during the Second World War there were some farm tasks which were considered ‘boys’ jobs’.

On stitching sheaves of corn, the farmer would choose a binder’s big wheel mark, pick up two sheaves, walk a few paces and stand them together. Then helpers would bring sheaves each side. By following the big wheel, the lines of stitches would follow the shape of the field, making sure that the lines of stitches were far enough apart to allow tractor and trailer or horse and wagon to come between for loading.

It was a boy’s job to pack the sheaves on the trailer or wagon. The boss would say “Keep the middle up, boy!”

Then when the wagon went into the rick to unload, it was the boy’s job to stand on the rick with a short-handled pitchfork and turn the sheaves to the rick maker. I would get an earwigging if I was too slow or didn’t get it right.

Those old farmworkers were very skilled, and when the load was done the boss would get down from the rick and look up and say “Ee’ll do boy” with a sense of pride. I’d look up and see that the eaves of the rick were slightly wider than the base so that, when they thatched the rick, the rain would run off.

Several years later my brother asked me to help on the farm to get the
last field of corn into rick before it rained. There were ten of us working away. I got the job of pitching the sheaves to the rick. They had another boy to turn the sheaves to the rick-maker. I was about to toss up the last sheaf when the boss said, “’Tis time to go in for tea.”

I carried the last sheaf back to the farm and stood it up by the back door, as was often the tradition to show that the harvest was in.

Little did I know then that this was the last sheaf on the farm for ever; next year the farmer got a combine harvester.

Henry Harris, Devon

In a memorable TV series in the 1970s, the broadcaster James Burke opined that, whenever new technology is introduced, the reaction of the public is unpredictable and often adverse.

As our appreciation of the effects of climate change and resource depletion increases, this becomes even more acute.

As energy prices dramatically increase, our attitude to transport will invariably change, and this is already apparent in the reduced numbers of those travelling, whether it be by road, rail or air.

Your criticism of the HS2 rail link (Diary, Feb) on environ­mental grounds is perfectly sound, but supporters will always counter with the supposed economic benefits. There aren’t any. The railways were originally conceived as a means of carrying freight but this has largely been usurped by passenger traffic.

The main beneficiaries of high-speed rail will be those working in London at inflated salaries who chose to live more cheaply ever further out in pleasant countryside, thus depriv­ing impoverished rural dwellers of affordable housing.

The effect is obvious now and HS2 will only make it worse.

Anthony G Phillips, Salisbury

John Fursdon writes (Feb) of his memories of working with Land Girls in Bedfordshire during the last war.

He may be interested in a book by Bedford-based historian Stuart Antrobus entitled We Wouldn’t Have Missed it for the World, which is a comment he heard many times during the many conversations he had with former Land Girls.

M W Trundle, Shefford

I am writing on behalf of my grand­mother, Ella McGwire, regarding an article in the June 2010 issue about the Women’s Land Army (WLA) in the First World War.

Her family were farmers, and her mother and two of her mother’s sisters joined the WLA during this time. They had to milk cows and turn the milk into large Cheddar cheeses, each one weighing half a curt (25 kg), and these were placed on shelves around the dairy.

Each cheese had to be turned upside-down every day until they had matured.

My grandmother is very proud of her mother and aunts in their role
in the WLA.

My grandmother still has the armband worn by her mother.

Gilly Netherwood, by email

With reference to Barbara Tremaine’s letter (Feb), there is a short write-up complete with diagrams in Insects in Colour edited by N D Riley, published by Blandford Press.

It also refers to the common wasp together with its underground nest. Another good reference book is A Field Guide to the Insects of Britain and Northern Europe by Michael Chinery, published by Collins.

E R Sinclaire, Dunstable

The photograph in ‘Curiouser & Curiouser, (Jan) headed ‘Name that street’ reminded me of a story that my father told me about his early childhood in the 1900s.

The front window of their house looked out onto the street outside, which, at that time, was surfaced with cinders, which were rolled regularly by the steamroller to get rid of the holes and furrows made by passing wagons and horses.

When the road was first surfaced with Tarmac, in wet weather Dad would spend hours kneeling on the window-seat, watching the rain bounce off the surface; a new experience for him, as previously it had soaked into the cinders.

Oh, the simple pleasures of life.

Ann Tivey, Nottingham

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