Margaret Day, Part 4
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Margaret Day CH4 Duration: 4:13
CB: And number 19. (MD019) Ah, this looks like a few years ago.
Margaret: This is myself –
CB: Leading the calf –
Margaret: My mother –
CB: And …?… – sorry, on the right
Margaret: Yeah, that’s myself –
CB: Your mother –
Margaret: My mother
CB: What’s your mother’s name?
Margaret: My mother’s name was Jess –
CB: Jess. What was her surname?
Margaret: Biffin.
CB: Biffin. Jess Biffin.
Margaret: Yeah. And this is [information redacted], my daughter, with one of her little Friesian calves and she’s asked my mum if she would like – she used to take it for a walk out on the Green and she’s asked my mum if she would like to have a go and it won’t walk for my mum and – with great surprise to us – and so [information redacted] is trying to push it on a bit.
CB: That wasn’t one of the original calves do you think? [information redacted] looks a little bit older there, doesn’t she.
Margaret: No, because I don’t think it was. I think it was probably the second lot that we had, because, you know, we then carried on and had more as time went on.
CB: (MD020) Yeah, that’s a lovely picture. So let’s run through the names, starting on the left.
Margaret: This is Terry –
CB: In the tractor –
Margaret: [information redacted] –
CB: He’s bent down on the –
Margaret: [information redacted] who’s bent down on the binder, and [information redacted] on the edge –
CB: Far right.
Margaret: Yes. My mother, myself and my friend, [information redacted], from Miami in Florida, who’d come over on holiday.
CB: So [information redacted] –
Margaret: – come over on holiday.
CB: [information redacted] the one left of the group –
Margaret: That’s right, yes. They’re all taking an interest and helping [information redacted] who’d grown some wheat round his house at Brooklands Farm, South Gorley, for the very first… bygone days, 25 years ago, and they were just trying to get it all sorted out. They would sail along, and the little bunches would fly out, then all of a sudden they would not be tying, and there would be stuff everywhere! But they’re having fun.
CB: Yes, so that’s a very old piece of equipment.
Margaret: It is a very old piece of equipment. I wouldn’t be able to say how old it was but the actual thing that they were doing was twenty-five years ago.
CB: It was twenty-five ago. That’s lovely, and then number 21. (MD021)
Margaret: This is Terry; Mark Deacon; my son-in-law, [information redacted]; and [information redacted] and [information redacted], all having refreshments after they’ve been baling up our silage in the field.
CB: And it looks like a hot day?
Margaret: It does.
CB: Lots of squash and biscuits. Biscuit tin’s empty, I think, isn’t it?
Margaret: It does look empty, yes, it definitely would be empty (Laughter)
CB: So, a few refreshments after a hard day.
Margaret: Yes.
CB: Right, number 22 (MD022)Oh. So, who are these two.
Margaret: This is my daughter, [information redacted], and [information redacted] –
CB: So [information redacted] the taller one –
Margaret: Yes, with two of the little calves that we started off our Commoning life with.
CB: Those are the two.
Margaret: I think they are.
CB: Lovely. You’ve got – Is that a beehive in the background?
Margaret: It is.
CB: You used to do bees, collect your own honey?
Margaret: Yes.
CB: Do you still do that?
Margaret: No. We handed the bees over to someone else.
CB: Mm mm. And 23. (MD023) Right. This one was a photocopy, wasn’t it?
Margaret: I don’t actually know how I acquired this, but it was a print of the Hindenburg over Ogdens in 1936.