大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Pauline Ward [daughter] on behalf of Alf Daines [the author] and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Harvest time at Poslingford Hall.

At the beginning of harvest John Brown and Ernest Hickford would be using horse binders, and arch Barton and Bert Hicks would be with the tractor binder. Arch on the tractor, Bert on the binder.

After some of the corn was cut and ready to be stacked, Ernest Hickford would stop cutting to drive away, he and Sam Spooner used to drive the corn home to be stacked. The four men in the fields with 2 harvest wagons were George Bridge, Arthur Bridge, Jock Bridge and Arthur Jay. They used to pitch one and load one.

The four men at home stacking were Bill Daines, Jimmer King, Bill Mansfield and Dick Spooner.

Alf Rawlinson would do the thatching.
Harry Hicks was the stockman. The farm had cows, bullocks, 1 bull and pigs.
Vic Basham was up in the farmhouse separating the milk and selling some at the door. He fed the chickens, got wood in, and cleaned the shoes.

When Vic Basham and Harry Hicks had done their work they used to draw straw for the thatcher.

Two schoolboys would ride the horses in the field, from shock to shock so the men in the field did not have to lead the horse. It saved a lot of time and a lot of walking.

After the corn was all cut J. Brown would go (pulling down as we called it) ducks footing the fallow getting a seed bed ready for drilling. Each year had 2 or 3 fields fallow.

Arch Barton would start ploughing the fields after the corn had been carted away, with a two-furrow drag plough pulled with an international 10.20 tractor.

I have seen 16 large wheat stacks in the stack yard, 2 bean stacks,
1 oat, 2 clover and 2 haystacks in the hay yard. We were told that Poslingford Hall had the largest stack about this part of Suffolk. 3 or 4 stacks in little Noar at the top of Poslingford hill. 3 in Covies meadow, 3 up lower Farm, 3 Strawberry Ley and 4 in Clare Ley near the road. You could not have stacks near the road like that now, they would soon get burnt.
As Henry Dennis was passing on his BSA motor bike he would shoot rooks and crows off Clare Ley stacks. He said if he stopped his bike all the birds flew away (he was a good shot).

For getting the corn stacked they had 7 horses, 5 fillers and 2 trace horses.

When war broke out we were carting wheat in Little Noar, a 19-acre field right hand side of Posligford hill. Mrs Jay came with her son鈥檚 fours and said war had been declared against Germany.

Bill Daines was the lord of the harvest. He would say if we worked 6,7.or 8 in the evenings. We mostly worked until 8pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 5pm on Saturday. We seldom worked on a Sunday.

2 or 3 times during the harvest one of the men that was driving away would say they want to know at home are you going to hob. That meant are we going to have a beer at fourses. They all said yes. As I was the boy they sent me to The Shepherd and Dog to get the 10-12 pints of beer. It was put in a 2-gallon stone jar or bottle. They all shared one mug. I never took the empty bottle back because the one that did got a free pint.

The first combine came here during the war. A tractor pulled it when the ground was dry. When the ground was a bit wet, and the field hilly 2 tractors had to pull it. It cut the barley when it came, some at Poslingford and some at Chilton. All the cutting section was hung on one side of the combine and would tip over if it was on the side of a hill.

The corn was bagged up on the top of the machine and let down a shoot at the corners of the field to be picked up. Horse and wagons then took all the corn to Chilton to be stored.
Before the combine started in a field the Binder would cut 3 rounds around the outside to make room for the combine so it did not run the corn down. I must tell you this, Sam Spooner (who used to drive away) had no teeth in his mouth and never had any pulled out other than thoses he pulled out himself, would go to the hedgerow and pick a few nuts and crack them with his gums.

During the war they had Warrag men. They would come around and tell you what to grow. We were told all the time all the warag men were broken down farmers. 1 field here got set with buckwheat, which should not have been. The Warrag waited until it was nearly ready to cut and sent a tractor and plough and started to plough it in. Henry Dennis went and asked them to stop. They said they had come to plough the whole field up. I am not going to say what he said to them and what he was going to do with them. There was quite a lot in the papers about this field of Buckwheat. About 2 days later he came out in the morning as he always did and said that he went to Cavendish pictures last night and what do you think, Yes on the news was Poslingford Hall and that b鈥�.y Buck wheat field. He did stop them ploughing it up but when it was cut later with tractor binder, all the news in the papers and at Cavendish pictures was about the field.

After they took the harvest money most men went to Bury on a Saturday afternoon on Longs bus. It was about the only time they went to Bury. No farm workers about here had a car, a lot did not even have a pushbike.

Arthur Willis the coal merchant from Clare used to come to the village with coal when he had enough to bring. That was not very often. So Poslingford people would walk to Clare (2 miles) and fetch their own. We took old prams; pushchairs, wheelbarrows and some would carry a bag on their pushbike. They would lay it on the cross bar and the handlebars. We took our own bags, as we got so black with his.

Not many people in the village had a wireless then. We were lucky enough to have one. A Clare man made it for us. It cost just over 拢2. It had an aeriel about 30 yards long, and was put on the tallest tree and the earth a metal stake in the ground just outside the window. The accumalator lasted about a week, and it cost 4 pennies to get it recharged. We always had Lord Haw Haw on, speaking from Germany every night. He would say what town was bombed each night. How many planes came and how many returned back safely. He did not always tell the truth.

If we didn鈥檛 get a good reception we put a bucket of water on the earth. It made it much better.

At the beginning of the war me and another boy went up Palmers Meadow (this side of the old Vicarage near the dug out). At the top of the vicarage I looked inside between the trees and saw a old woman sitting in a wicker chair with a shawl over her shoulders. I said to Ron look there, as I said that, she came towards us. Then she and the chair disappeared (so did we). When we got back on the road we told 3 young men who came from Wickhambrook, and we all went back to look but saw nothing.
Albert Hicks was handy man and gardener up there at the time. He was asked the next day if anyone like that was living there and he said no.
(Many years later (1970,s) my daughter saw a hooded figure sitting on the water hydrant near the vicarage when she rode past on her bike in the dusk. Her friend had just ridden past in front of her but there was no one there then).

A chap drove down from London to go to Bury. Came through Clare and should have gone to Chilton Street,on to Stradishall then on to Bury that way. He got here and thought he was on the wrong road (no sign posts then) so he stopped his large car in front of the Shepherd and dog pub. He walked over the road to the thatched cottages opposite and knocked on the door. The old lady came to the door and he said excuse me madam I have just driven down from the city. Could you please tell me the best way to Bury St.Edmunds. The old lady said, well us in the villages always have to dig a hole and put them in.

If the pub had enough beer it would open for an hour or two in the evening. Games played were shove 陆 penny, dominoes and darts. Four people would play and the two losers would pay for a quart of beer. They would get it in a quart mug. It would stand on the mantelpiece with just one glass. They would all drink from the one glass. Played the best of three games and then two more would challenge the winners.

There were two men in the village that cut hair or give you a shave (they were not proper barbers). While getting a shave I have heard some of them say if you could keep from crying they would stop you from laughing. You sat on the chopping block. I used to go to Clare and get my hair cut for 4 old pennies.

We never had a turkey for xmas dinner then. We used to try and hatch a few chickens each year. You could not hatch many because you could not get the food for them. People would always put odd numbers of eggs under a hen 13 or 15. They never put even numbers. I don鈥檛 know why. Sometimes we had a young cockerel for xmas, if not you had a old hen that had almost finished laying.

At that time there were 3 brothers in the village that were full time pluckers so one of them would come and pluck ours and the next door neighbours. They would kill and pluck it before it had finished kicking. The youngest brother was the only working man in this village to have a car. It was and old Ford 8. You could get a new one for 拢100. No working man had 拢100 then. You didn't have to take a test then.

They had 2 Opal cars at Poslingford Hall they were the same price as the Ford 8 but much better springs for going over the fields. Some farmers in the village didn鈥檛 even have a pushbike.
Just before the war started 2 young girls from Austria came into service at Poslingford House. When Hitler walked into Austria they were pleased he had. These two girls knew all about the soldiers鈥� movements and military details. Old 1914 soldiers told us 鈥測ou know why Hitler sent them here鈥�.

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