大象传媒

"My uncle had a farm and during the war we kept a sort of 'illicit' pig. You know - you'd a 'legal' pig and an 'illicit' pig! And every one of the neighbours would collect any crusts of bread, scraps, bits and pieces, and when that pig was killed there was piece for everybody ... The Government knew about the other one, the 'legal' pig, but this 'illicit' one was I suppose what's called the 'Black Market' but it was sufficiently innocent enough - it wasn't robbing anything from anybody else.

"Basically it was something to trade you see, because we used to trade one of the hindquarters of this pig with somebody at Hade Edge who happened to have sufficient on the side at their smallholding ... it was a form of primitive barter at that point of time and this pig was all part of it.

"I can remember my father, who was home on leave, got the job of taking Uncle Walter's van up with all these pieces of pig all wrapped up and labelled for, you know, who they were for. And he's going on his way, and almost at the Bay Horse this policeman flags him down. He'd got a puncture on his bike.

"Well of course it was obvious what was in the van and as the policeman got out of the van he took his bike off the top and he just held his hand out - and me father just put his hand in the back and gave him a parcel -he didn't know whose it was! So I suppose that policeman had an illicit piece of pig on his Christmas table."
Margaret, Farnley Tyas woman born 1936. Farmer's Niece

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