大象传媒

This story has been contributed by Val Potter of Age Concern, Hellifield, It was originally contributed to Age Concern in 1990.
Mrs Wallbank was on a farm in Mewith throughout the War.It was her father's farm, they had both sheep and cows and she and her husband more or less ran it. They had corn and potatoes as well. She worked from early morning 'til late at night. Her father was virtually an invalid. They ran the farm with her brother and sister, her husband and herself and one boy. Mrs Wallbank helped with the milking by hand. There were no tractors on the farm, they had Shire horses to work the land and bred them all themselves. When one of the horses died, Mrs Wallbank remembers seeing her husband cry for the first time. He loved the horses and looked after them himself. At potato picking time, they went out with two horses, a plough and four of them going along on their hands and knees! At harvest, they had 60 to 70 acres to reap and had to follow the reaper and stack the corn - All Hands on Deck!
Mrs Wallbank got her calling-up papers the day her son was born, so she did not have to go into the Forces. Her husband, Harold, had to do his Home Guard duty as well as his work on the farm and used to be on Burnmoor at nights and back on the farm in the morning.

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