大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Henry Pickering and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."
I was born in Goldthorpe and lived at 65 Barnsley Road, Highgate. I was about 15 at the end of the war. We could hear the bombs being dropped on Sheffield. The problem for us was the damage caused from the shrapnel from our own guns. It was stuck in doors and buildings.

When I was very young (about 8) a small aircraft landed in a field next to Highgate School. I was running to see it when I was knocked down by a car. The couple in the plane said that they would call and see how I was on their way back in a few days time, and they did.

When I was about 17 I went back to look at the field where the plane had landed. In the few years in between my accident and then it had become impossible for any plane to land in that field. It was all bumpy and uneven. It could have been mining subsidence that had caused the field to drop.

When I was 15 I worked for Benny Slater on his farm. I got 22 shillings and 6 pence (22/6d) per week. I took the milk out in a pony and trap. The milk was in churns and we ladled it out at the door. People asked for a gill of milk but we didn鈥檛 have a measure so we just ladled it out.

My horse knew its route and routine and I jumped off the cart whilst the horse was moving and then it would stop. It knew the people who fed it and it used to stop for them whether they wanted it stop or not.

When I was still at school I used to take groceries out for Hunter鈥檚. I had a delivery bike which was very difficult to balance. I delivered groceries after school two or three times a week.

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