I got my first taste of farm work in 1946,, aged twelve, at Achtralure, up the Old Port Road. It was at the harvest and four of us schoolboys were put to "stookin". That is putting six sheaves leaning against each other in a tent shape. We were told to keep up with one of the farm workers and he didn't half go along at some rate. At the end of the day, about 8 p.m. we were given five shillings each. My very first pay and I was so proud that I ran home to show my parents. "Very good," said mother,"you can put that to a new pair of boots".After that I started going out with the "squads". We were taken on the backs of lorries to various farms in the Rhinns and up around Ballantrae. We did the tattie howking mostly behind the digger but on a couple of occasions behind the graip. When it was the digger you were put in pairs and given a stent, that is your section. It didn't take long to notice that although all the stents were supposed to be the same the squad leaders favourites had a shorter length. So we boys would move the markers,usually sticks, when we thought no one was looking.If it was the graip you went along behind the man,or woman, gathering each shaw as they dug it out. It was back breaking work. However you were allowed to take a dinner o' tatties at the end of the job.This usually meant filling your "piece" bag.We also went to thin or single turnips. For this you went on your hands and knees crawling up the drills in all weathers. To save your knees you would wrap jute sacks round your legs and tie them with binder twine. On a wet day they soon were filled with dirt and very heavy.Some fields were very stoney and sore on you and it was a joy to get a field of sandy soil. In the winter you could get casual work clearing out ditches or pulling thistles. When I was a teenager the pay was half a crown an hour if you went with a squad or nine pennies a hundred yards if you went straight to the farm. I worked for three years, from fifteen to age eighteen with a dairy engineer. However I would still go out with the squads at the weekend and some nights. Also I went out when it was my fortnight's holiday as this gave me a chance to put some money by. I bought my first made to measure suit from my squad money. It was four pounds and ten shillings and I couldn't wait to strut down George Street on a Saturday afternoon. One of the things that sticks out in my mind is the tea. Everyone had to bring a twist of tea and a twist of sugar, This was all thrown together in a big urn of boiling water and the farmer provided the milk. I can almost taste it now and without doubt it was the most welcome mug of tea that I have ever had. Although it was very hard work there was a lot of banter and laughter some of which would be very much frowned upon in these politically correct days.The squad had an annual day out to Glasgow, the Squad Trip as it was known. I was fourteen and it was my first time in Glasgow. We boys spent the day in Argyle Street and most of it in Woolworths. I was going to write this in the dialect as spoken by my squad friends but I do want to share it with as many Wig listers as possible. Bill Dougan

Fantastic exposition, Bill. If I were taking a university class in creative writing I'd have "kiped" it and passed it off as my own to earn an A! Just kidding, but this is the type of descriptive narrative writing that we should all have learned in school, instead of the usual "What I did on my summer vacation" which was mostly fantasy for us poor Glesga schoolchildren. What were those teachers thinking about! I went tattie howking for only three weeks, which does not compare with your years working the fields. As I remarked: it was enough! However, when we returned to school, we were not asked to write of this particular experience, but maybe on some character in one of Shakespeare's plays! Thank you very much for this contribution. Your farm work toils were likely not too much different from years past...until mechanisation replaced the need for many farm workers Maisie ----- Original Message ----- From: "DOUGAN WILLIAM" <[email protected]> To: "Wiglist" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2010 12:45 PM Subject: [WIG LIST] Farm work >I got my first taste of farm work in 1946,, aged twelve, at Achtralure, up > the Old Port Road. It was at the harvest and four of us schoolboys were > put > to "stookin". That is putting six sheaves leaning against each other in a > tent shape. We were told to keep up with one of the farm workers and he > didn't half go along at some rate. At the end of the day, about 8 p.m. we > were given five shillings each. My very first pay and I was so proud that > I > ran home to show my parents. "Very good," said mother,"you can put that to > a > new pair of boots".After that I started going out with the "squads". We > were > taken on the backs of lorries to various farms in the Rhinns and up around > Ballantrae. We did the tattie howking mostly behind the digger but on a > couple of occasions behind the graip. When it was the digger you were put > in > pairs and given a stent, that is your section. It didn't take long to > notice > that although all the stents were supposed to be the same the squad > leaders > favourites had a shorter length. So we boys would move the markers,usually > sticks, when we thought no one was looking.If it was the graip you went > along behind the man,or woman, gathering each shaw as they dug it out. It > was back breaking work. However you were allowed to take a dinner o' > tatties > at the end of the job.This usually meant filling your "piece" bag.We also > went to thin or single turnips. For this you went on your hands and knees > crawling up the drills in all weathers. To save your knees you would wrap > jute sacks round your legs and tie them with binder twine. On a wet day > they > soon were filled with dirt and very heavy.Some fields were very stoney and > sore on you and it was a joy to get a field of sandy soil. In the winter > you > could get casual work clearing out ditches or pulling thistles. When I was > a > teenager the pay was half a crown an hour if you went with a squad or nine > pennies a hundred yards if you went straight to the farm. I worked for > three > years, from fifteen to age eighteen with a dairy engineer. However I would > still go out with the squads at the weekend and some nights. Also I went > out when it was my fortnight's holiday as this gave me a chance to put > some > money by. I bought my first made to measure suit from my squad money. It > was > four pounds and ten shillings and I couldn't wait to strut down George > Street on a Saturday afternoon. One of the things that sticks out in my > mind > is the tea. Everyone had to bring a twist of tea and a twist of sugar, > This > was all thrown together in a big urn of boiling water and the farmer > provided the milk. I can almost taste it now and without doubt it was the > most welcome mug of tea that I have ever had. Although it was very hard > work > there was a lot of banter and laughter some of which would be very much > frowned upon in these politically correct days.The squad had an annual day > out to Glasgow, the Squad Trip as it was known. I was fourteen and it was > my > first time in Glasgow. We boys spent the day in Argyle Street and most of > it > in > Woolworths. > I was going to write this in the dialect as spoken by my squad friends but > I do want to share it with as many Wig listers as possible. Bill Dougan > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message