There was three of them [sons] ready for working for him. And then the next one, the fourth one, he didn't want to be on the land. He wanted to be a carpenter. But dad had to go the farmer and asked him if he minded if one side-stepped him and went to be a […]
Agriculture & Farming
Memories of Sheringham and Overman, Seed Merchants (2010)
The contributor grew up on the Norfolk coast at Brancaster. After studying agriculture and horticulture, in the early 1960s he joined Sheringham and Overman's agricultural seed merchants firm in Fakenham as a bookkeeper. He describes changes in the seed business which diversified from supplying local farmers, who themselves grew herbage seed, to include one of […]
My Varied Life – Bevin Boy, Herring Fisherman, Agriculture and Reed Cutting (1940-2019)
Early days in farming I started work at 14 in 1940 and I worked at the nurseries, or greenhouses – whichever you like to call it. My hours them days were 48 hours and they were for 14s. a week. I stuck that for quite a while, and I thought to myself, ‘There isn’t a […]
Side by side on the land: Riding the binders, cutting the corn – David (1936-1987)
David and his twin brother John began working on the farm in 1936, at the age of 14 Early days Our first job, when we left school in 1936, was at the Murton Webbs in Knettishall carting sugarbeet. We biked eleven mile out, eleven mile home to Kilverstone. Poor old Mother couldn’t afford to […]
Side by side on the land: Riding the binders, cutting the corn – John (1936-1989)
Life on the land My first job, in 1936, was at Murton Webb’s in Knettishall in Suffolk. We biked the way from Kilverstone to Knettishall which was eleven mile, and eleven mile home and we started work at six o’clock in the morning. We left home about five and started work at six. I worked […]
The Assistant Farmer (2007)
I came to Colney on October 11th 1936 when my family gave up Manor Farm Kirby, Bredon where I was born and we moved to Hall Farm Colney. The farms were farmed at Colney by my father Bailey and his brother Hugh trading as H & B Wilson and the reason that the family moved […]
The Cow Hand (2007)
I was born in 1933, the son of an agricultural worker. We were living at Thwaite St Mary near Ditchingham in the 40s. My father was a foreman on the farm. The farm was a cow farm mostly. What would be done would be done by hand. The milking was done by hand. There were […]
The doings of the Dewings – a farmer’s tale (1954-1997)
Richard has been a farmer most of his life. He moved from a small farm in Bressingham to South Walsham from where he retired in 1997. I finished university when I was twenty and then did my national service. I actually had a twenty-first birthday the week I joined. I did my two years […]
The Farm Manager (2007)
Can you tell me what your first job was? When I left school I wanted to go to agricultural college, I always wanted to be a farmer, from very quite an early age. To go to agricultural college you had to do a year’s practical on the farm, work on a farm before that. So […]
The Fenland agricultural worker in the 1920’s and 1930’s (2007)
1920s Rural Life