大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from WCRO on behalf of Mary and has been added to the site with her permission. Mary fully understands the site's terms and conditions".
I'm a farmers daughter and in 1940 I started working on a neighboouring farm at Over Whitacre and my wage was 10p an hour. We started hand milking the cows at 6.30am. After feeding the cows and calves we cleaned out the sheds before starting work in the fields. This work varied according to the season. I used to drive a Fordson tractor to do the ploughing, working the ground and sowing the crops.
Manure was carted from the sheds to the fields and put in small heaps all over the field. It was spread using a fork and later ploughed into the ground
Potatoes were picked by hand and put into buckets,then into bags and carted to clamps in the fields. These were strawed and soiled up. During the winter they were taken out and riddled to get rid of the bad ones and the soil around them, before being taken to the shops.
The tops of the mangolds grown on the farm had to be cut off by hand. We then threw them into trailers and they were carted to the farm for the animals feed during the winter.
Harvest time began with cutting round the fields with a scythe to make room for the binder. The corn was cut, tied up into shooks and left in the fields until the church bells rang three times before using a pitchfork to load it on to the trailers. It was carted to the rickyard and made into stacks which were thatched with straw. During the winter the corn from the stacks was threshed
The grass was cut with a mower and often had to be turned with a fork to help it dry. It was then carted to the farm and put into stacks. This provided winter feed for the beasts.

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