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I’m Jack and I study Theatre studies, English Literature and History, here at Ripley St Thomas.
I’m Martha and I study Sociology, Psychology and English Language
l guess the reason I wanted to get involved in this was because, well it says it in the title ‘My Story’, and I’m very interested in other peoples stories,
so it was lovely to go down and meet Mason, and hear what he had to say really,
and especially for me, because I’m from a semi-rural community myself, so there was a lot of overlap,
and I was impressed by, despite the age gap, all the things we could relate to.
Being interested in stuff like Psychology and Sociology, I’m very interested in people,
and the different types of lives, how people experience lives differently, to what I know myself
I thought it was very interesting talking to somebody of a very different age and different generation to myself,
and finding out about how his life was, and the things that he had experienced. And basically getting a different perspective on life.
Quernmore or ‘Qwaarmer’ (A small rural community near Lancaster, UK)
I was born there
Did you spend your childhood there?
Yes
Quite a happy one as far as I know, no problems
What kind of area did you live in, what was it like?
I was born on a farm, so I was brought up on a farm.
But I had to stay there for so long during the war because it was a reserved occupation
But when you became free you could do what you wanted
I worked for W.J. Farnham they were animal feed compound and dealers
they had quite a number of branches around Lancaster area, but they’ve all gone now
I don’t know what happened to the place, I think part of the office went to the YMCA
Our old farmhouse was dated 1722, it was quite old, and the house adjoining
I think in those days my dad’s aunty used to live there, so it was Ok
what’s happened to it now I don’t know
my nephews have got those places.…
It was called the ‘Temperance Hotel’, but I don’t remember it as such
it might have taken people in during the summer just for light refreshments, I don’t know
I remember that petrol pump and just there, there was a little shop and post office
you had to collect your own mail
When they first started they had cycles with a frame on to carry the mail
(the postman) it was quite a tough round
across the countryside pushing his bike up quite steep hills, in all weathers quite a big round
Just below the chapel there was an old smithy
I remember him because if you wanted a horse shoeing, you’d to go down and ask him when he could do it
then you’d go back home to get the horse, wait while he did it, then go back again
Well yes, during picking, harvest or hay time
If at hay time if the chap next door was struggling, one of us would go and help him out
In harvest, well, you all had to join in during war times
On threshing days you all had to share
we would send someone to another farm then they in turn would send someone to us
In those days you could get extra coupons to feed them, was it the British restaurants you could get
You had steam tractors, steam engines. Where I lived it was quite an awkward spot to get to
there was quite a problem getting down this quite steep hill, negotiating it
and getting the baler of thresher all lined up
You mentioned last time that you started off at Quernmore School
then you moved to Dallas (Road School) Was there a particular reason for moving?
Well it was only an infant school, so I went to Dallas Road until about 11
then I went to the Friends school after that. Then I went to the technical college on a secretarial course
Well during the war, you were supposed to plough so much land, so we had so much land to turn over and plough up
In those days as well, tractors were just coming in, so that made life a lot easier, not that I was any good at ploughing
my cousin was; I tried it once but it didn’t work, furrow went all to pot
it’s quite a skilled job actually to keep a straight furrow. There was a chap, a farmer just across from us
you could see him ploughing with horses and they were absolutely dead straight
We had one or two horses in those days, we didn’t have tractors
we never got one of our own because we used to share with my uncle on the next farm
That made life a bit easier when you were taking root crops off like mangles or turnips
It made life a lot easier with the horses anyway
Was it just vegetables you grew on the farm or did you have animals at all?
It was a mix; so much cattle, so many sheep and my dad was very keen on poultry
So we used to keep quite a number of hens. We also used to hatch a lot of chickens
They were grown up so big, then we used to sell them, somebody took them off our hands
they probably ended up in hotels and boarding houses in Morecambe
I never know really, they just took them away and that was it
Well only when I left school, I don’t know, I might have done odd jobs I don’t know
It was all hand milking, there weren’t enough ‘milkers’ to make it worthwhile having a milking machine
You had the old three leg stool, a pale a bucket. So long as they’d stand still
you’d be alright. Occasionally you’d get ‘kicked out’, I remember my brother in law got kicked out
well you had to recover and get on with it. Footwear in winter here it was always clogs
clog irons, they make a bit of a clatter but they were warm and dry
There was a little Quaker, meeting house, I don’t know if it’s still there, they had little row of headstones
that’s the only thing that you could tell by it. I seemed to remember somebody taking us
and I couldn’t understand why they all were so quiet. ‘Waiting while the spirit moved’
but I can’t remember anything about it. They had a Methodist chapel
were we used to play the organ. Sometimes my sister, or my cousin
sometimes my dad used to ‘One and the Glory, one of those old fashioned ones
My dad used to do that sometimes, not always, I can’t think of anything else
Oh yes, we had one from Manchester. He stayed so long and decided he didn’t like it so he went home again
The lad on the next farm he stayed for quite a long time. He probably went back eventually
The other one I remember was the ’home guard’. I don’t know what they did at night but my brother in law
well he wasn’t my brother in law then, he used to go on the home guard
but what they did I never found out
In the evening or in the summer you’d be hay timing, and later on in would be harvesting
That was alright until the hay got late, then it was a problem because if it was lying flat, you couldn’t get anything underneath it
Well we did, we had a little single horse mowing machine, that had a special attachment
so you could saw off so much off, and take it off. But you’d to tie it all by hand, which was quite a job
it was a bit of a back aching job, but you got used to it. The thing was then straw bales were weak
trying to make them stand up together like that was a bit of a job. The butt end of the sheath sloped
so you could stab it into the ground. Then you’d have a day of turning them around
so they were turned them inside out, then you got away with it.