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Farmer's wife. b. 23.10.1920 SIDE A (00 mins)Born at a farm outside Newport Pagnell, Bucks, owned by father. Maternal grandfather was also a farmer in Bucks. Maternal grandparents rented a farm in Turvey, Bedfordshire. Parents had mixed farm: milking cow and cereal crops, plus some market gardening and a few pigs. Horses and carts when she was a child. Harvesting done by hand. (05 mins)11 men worked on the farm. Later, threshing machine worked by an engine. Two steam engines to do ploughing, using a cable. No tractors. Mother grew a big flower garden and some vegetables and fruit. Two older brothers and an elder sister. Working farm dogs. 200-300 sheep. Grazing fields. Shearing. Lambing. (10 mins)30+ milking cows. Candles and lamps. Hand milking. Then milking machines introduced and electricity produced by a petrol engine. Still no mains electricity when they left in 1940. Water from a spring, piped to the house. (15 mins)Water tanks around the house and the farm. Water time occupation of houses. Schooling at private schools. Left Howard College, a boarding school for young ladies, in Bedford, at 17. Helped mother with poultry and egg sales. (20 mins)Father did the farm accounts. Mother gave out pocket money. Father semi-retired to a house but ran a number of farms. She helped brother on his farm at Stagsden during war times, cooking meals. (25 mins)Cinema-going in Bedford. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Played ladies hockey and tennis, competitively. Attended young farmer's dances. Met husband at a Northampton farmer's dance. Married in 1944. Honeymoon in Blackpool. (05 mins)Started farming together. Bought early combined harvester. Had 3000 chickens in battery farm but gave them up. Mixed farm. Had four children. Two eldest now do the farming. (10 mins)Milking cows. Calves. Effects of foot and mouth disease on farmers (2001 outbreak). (15 mins)BSE disease in cattle and effects on food safety. Animal passports (establishing ownership history & treatment). Paperwork and bureaucracy. Animal foodstuffs. (20 mins)Badger setts on the farm. Animal tuberculosis debate. Fox hunting over the farm. (25 mins)Naming fields. Grandchildren not yet interested in farming. Future uncertain. (28 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW. Original Interview 60 mins.

13 May 2002

From: 1915 To: 2002

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farmer, market gardening, dairy, arable, pigs, horses, harvesting, threshing, ploughing, tractors, dogs, fruit, flowers, sheep, sheep shearing, water supply, Howard College for Girls, poultry, eggs, World War Two, cinema, hockey, tennis, Young Farmers Club, cattle disease, badgers, tuberculosis, fox hunting, Newport Pagnell, TURVEY, STAGSDEN, Northampton, Blackpool