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I lived on a farm in Suffolk in a place called Ship Meadow during the war, I was evacuated from Gravesend in Kent in 1940.

We used to get pocket money for helping out on the farm but I also kept 5 breeding does and a buck, I used to breed them during the spring and early summer and then just keep the adults through the winter and sell the young rabbits. I would put the month old rabbits in the cart on the back of my bike and cycle into Becles, about 3 miles away to sell them at the market.

I would sell them in the auction ring and if the price wasn’t good enough I would bid and buy them back and bring them back the following week. The dealers got to know me well and eventually they would waylay me on the way to the auction and I would do business before the auction, I would get a really good price for my ‘rather nice’ young rabbits! Then I didn’t have to wait around for the sale and could get home early.

It was easy to keep the rabbits on the farm; there was the straw and the cow beet to feed them on. I would use a little scythe to cut down greenery from the hedgerows. It produced quite a nice little income.

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Diana Wilkinson of the CSV Action Desk at ´óÏó´«Ã½ Hereford and Worcester and has been added to the site with Mr John Meiklejohn’s permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions

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