ESSEX-UK-L Archives

From: "DEREK WELHAM" <>
Subject: Re: East Anglian men working in Yorkshire
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 13:38:19 +0100
References: <E19L3SH-00062J-00@wing7.herald.ox.ac.uk>

I believe the village is Charsfield, Suffolk.
Peggy Cole is mentioned in Simon's Suffolk Churches page
for that village church.

http://www.suffolkchurches.plus.com/charsfield.htm

Derek Welham.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Gray" <>
To: <>
Sent: 28 May 2003 17:07
Subject: Re: East Anglian men working in Yorkshire


> Dear all,
>
> I've had at least one expression of interest and have yet to hear from
the
> person who first asked me, so I'm going to post the reference (Colin, I
wasn't
> as busy as I thought!)
>
> Its from "Akenfield" (subtitled "Portrait of an English Village") by
Ronald
> Blythe. I have the 1972 Penguin reprint, pre-ISBN I'm afraid, but
abebooks.com
> are bound to have lots of copies.
>
> It is Blyths' first interviewee "Leonard Thompson", aged 71 in 1967 when
> interviewed.
>
> "Every week in the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury there was an
advertisement
> which said, 'Lads for Yorkshire. Milk or Ploughing. Good Homes. Fares
Paid.
> Apply: Woods of Stowmarket.' All the Yorkshire farm-workers, you see,
had left
> the land to work in the factories and mills. So they hit on this idea of
> getting workers up from Suffolk, where things were desperate, to
cultivate the
> Yorkshire farms. So I thought, right, I'll go! I was getting 9s. a week
for a
> seventy-five-hour week in a cowshed. I had four hours off a week, from
10-2 on
> a Sunday. So I went to Yorkshire. I met Mr Woods on Bury St Edmunds
station
> and he gave me my ticket. I went to farm in the West Riding. It was the
first
> time I had been away from home. I lived in a little old room on the farm
with
> two other boys and was told that I would get £12 at the end of the year,
which
> was 5s. a week, but also my food and keep. The food was good; we ate it
> with the servant in the kitchen. We worked like little donkeys until we
were a
> bit unsteady on our feet, then it was bed. Then work. I had to pay a
pound a
> year to an old woman to do my washing, pay a pound to get home again and
a
> pound for boots and corduroys, but I came to Suffolk with eight golden
> sovereigns in my hand and felt like a millionaire"
>
>
> So there you have it - from a man who did it!
>
> Akenfield itself doesn't exist but I'm sure a little googling could track
down
> the village Blyth used. I rather think it is the one where Peggy Cole
(regular
> columnist in the East Anglian Daily Times) lives as she was involved
with book
> an film. But it's apparently almost within walking distance of
Framlingham,
> Woodbridge and Wickham Market. It's not Essex, but it's pretty close.
>
>
> Hope this helps someone!
>
> Adrian
>

This thread:

• Re: East Anglian men working in Yorkshire by "DEREK WELHAM" <>