I was born at Aberford on the 1st December, 1914. One of my earliest
memories is of visiting my uncles when I was a little lad. My Uncle
Charlie and my Uncle Willie used to live at Leyfield Farm between
Aberford and Barwick. They had the two cottages, one down the field
and the other by the mill that was there in years gone by but is now
pulled down. Every holiday I used to go and stay there.
My uncle Charlie had two rows of peas in his garden and they were
just ready for eating but these peas kept disappearing before they could
be picked. Just the shells and the stalks were left. My uncle said,
"Those blessed mice, they're getting all my peas." So he put mouse
traps down but he didn't catch any mice. This went on until all the peas
were gone and they still couldn't find out how all the peas had been
shelled. They never suspected me!
However, outside the front door there were some sweet peas growing.
Now if you leave sweet peas they eventually make pods just like
ordinary peas. Of course, I started to shell and eat these sweet peas,
just as I had done with the edible peas. Well, they made me so sick and
very poorly! So they finally found out who had eaten all the peas and it
wasn't the mice!
My uncles all worked on farms except one who worked as a road man
for West Riding County Council, who were responsible for the length
of Aberford which was Nut Hill to Hook Moor. In those days this was
the main A1 and when the roads needed gritting he would go with a
wheelbarrow full of grit and grit the road starting at the top end of
Aberford, right through to the end houses. Then he would grit the
pavements, all before 9.00am so the children could get to school. He'd
done it for years. He would just get some grit on his shovel and toss it
up like a rainbow onto the road.
There certainly weren't many cars on the roads then. You had to be
very wealthy to have a car. Miss Routledge, who was secretary to the
Gascoignes, had a little car and so did the Gascoignes but most people
had to manage with bicycles!
School
I went to school at Aberford. I was in Miss Pearcy's class and she had
a house next to what was the garage in those days, half way through
Aberford. She used to send me from school when I was only five to
take out the meat she'd left in the oven. I had to let myself in and take
the meat out of the oven and come back to school. I don't think that
would happen these days!
I went to school there until I was about ten and then we moved to
Home Farm, Parlington, where my father worked as a farm labourer.
But I, as an inquisitive youth, used to go round all the woods. I got
involved with the game-keeper and every Saturday morning we used to
go round the farms, finding old sitting hens to hatch his pheasants.
Then I used to have to look after them in the woods when he went off
on a Saturday or a Sunday, so I was quite useful to him and learnt a lot.
When we lived there I used to walk past the Triumphal Arch in
Parlington every morning and evening so I knew the numerals on the
inscription; MDCCLXXXIII. People are amazed that I still know that
because the letters are very crumbled now as it's such an old
monument.
After that we moved again. Parlington Farm was sold up and my father
moved to Aberford, to Bunkers Hill.
Alms Houses
When I was 12 I did a milk round and took milk to the Alms Houses
where the old people lived. They all had a jug outside and had a gill of
milk a day. I had to measure out the milk from a pail. I thought there
were 4 gills to a pint but in fact there were 2 gills to a pint. When I got
back the farmer's wife said, "There's a lot of milk left. How much did
you give them?" I told her and she said, "Oh no, it's half a measure,
not a quarter! They want a gill and a little drop more in case the
measure isn't full. You'll have to go back." So I was late for school
that day but I'd learnt my weights and measures! I did that job for a
long time.
Blowing the organ
I used to go to chapel every Sunday, three times a day, and blow the
organ for Miss Townend who had played the organ for as long as I
could remember. However, when I got to 14 I finally got tired of it and
passed the job to my brother. By then I was more interested in going to
Hook Moor with lads from Micklefield, Garforth and Sherburn and
one lad even came from Bramham. We all congregated on the moor
and we had some great times. We were always good friends.
Allotment
As I got older I wanted to try growing vegetables. I knew there was a
plot on the allotments which had been vacant for over two years and no
one seemed to want it. I told my father about it and said I would like to
garden it. He said he thought I would be taking on a big thing but he
agreed to go to the estate office and ask if I could take it on. The estate
manager said, "By all means he can have the allotment. He's my milk
boy and he can have it for two years rent free!"
So I made a start on the allotment by mowing all the grass and digging
the plot. I was determined to make a big success of it. The other
gardeners used to walk past my plot because my garden was number 1
and they would tell me when I was doing wrong and when I was doing
it right.
One Saturday morning I was making my potato rows in the garden and
one of the old gardeners came past and said, "Oh no, no, you're doing
them all wrong. Level 'em up and I'll come back with my spade and
do it for you." So in this way he helped me along, as did all the other
old men. In the end I had one of the best gardens on the allotment and I
have grown vegetables ever since.
Keep Fit at the YMCA
When I was a teenager there was a gang of lads, including Leslie
Walker who lived at the farm between Barwick and Aberford. He had
a car and we used to go with him, Geoff Hayton and another lad to
Burmantofts YMCA to "Keep Fit".
The man who took us also trained the prisoners in Armley jail! He was
very strict and he put us though our paces. There were 20 or 30 lads in
the group. He used to say "Touch all four walls and don't be the last
back." He would stand on the stage and say, "You and you are the last
back." Then we would all stand astride and the last ones back had to go
on their hands and knees through everyone's legs and as they went
through they got a whack on the behind! So you were never the last
back unless someone got in your way.
Swimming
We also used to go swimming at the York Road baths. I couldn't swim
very well or dive but I still did a bit. Of course those baths are all gone
now but that's how we used to spend our time. Then on Sunday
mornings we used to go to the Blue Lagoon on Otley Road to swim.
Dancing
One of our favourite pastimes was dancing at Aberford Village Hall
and also at Barwick, which was where I met my wife, Hilda. We were
just 17 and would go dancing every week. Kate Crossland ran the
Barwick dances to raise money for a village hall which they hoped to
have built but it was a long time before this actually happened; it was
6d to go in. George Pullan played the piano and Albert Warner played
the drums and also the accordion. Mrs Murphy played violin. All her
family were very musical. The Barwick dances were held at the
Miners' Institute on Saturday nights. They were very popular and
attracted people from Aberford as well as Barwick. Those were our
courting days.
Farming Stories
When I was a lad of about 10, we lived at a farm on the Garforth
Road called "Park Farm". Richard Helm had that farm and my
father went to work for him as a horseman. There would be six or
seven men working on the farm in those days including two
horse men, a cow man and a shepherd.
Mr Helm had a lot of sheep and I used to go with him, taking
notice of all that went on. Now the farmer had a sheep dog which
wasn't allowed in the pen, but when the farmer wasn't there, the
dog used to go with me into the pen! He kept at my heels all the
time and behaved himself for me. The sheep got to know him and
when Mr Helm found out he said, 'I don't know how you can do
it. I couldn't!'
However, one day, about 6a.m., Mr Helm came knocking at the
door and said, 'Is Sidney up? I need his help.' My father said,
‘No, but he won't be long.' So he called me down and said, 'Can
you come? Mr Helm wants you.' So I came down and Mr Helm
said, 'Don't bother putting your shirt on lad.' And away we
went.
Mr Helm said, 'Now, you've seen me lambing sheep time and
time again, but I can't do this. I've been all night trying to lamb
this sheep and I cannot. Pull your sleeves up.' And he covered all
my hand and arm with Vaseline. He said, 'Now, poise your finger
and start and I'm going to tell you what to do.' His hands were
far too big for this difficult job but he thought I might be able to
do it.
I started and got into the sheep. He said, 'What can you feel?' I
said, 'Nothing.' He said, 'Work round to the right side.' I
managed this. 'Oh,' I said,'I've found a leg.' 'It's t'back un isn't
it? Ease it forward steadily. You know how a sheep's leg is.
Bring it forward. Now go to the other side and see if you can find
the other leg.' I did do and I got the two legs between my finger
and thumb. 'The lamb's coming.' 'That's all right, the old girl's
helping you,' and within ten minutes, the lamb came out.
He picked a towel up and said, 'Right, clean its mouth out and
blow down it to check it's breathing.' We rubbed it a little bit
with the towel and we just put it in front of the old sheep. She
cleaned it and straight away another lamb came - two beautiful
lambs. Then I realised the time and told Mr Helm it was half past
nine and I should've been at school at nine-o-clock. 'Never mind
about that,' he said. 'Go up to the house and your breakfast's
there, ready for you.' After all this work, I was certainly ready
for it!
I went up to the farm house and got my breakfast. Then Mr Helm
said told me Young Dick was going to take me to school on his
motorbike and sidecar. That was a real honour, so I went home
and got changed and Dick was there with his motorbike and
sidecar.
Off we went to school in style. When we got there Dick told me
to wait a minute and he knocked at the door and Mr Rayson the
headmaster, came. Dick explained to Mr Rayson why I was late.
and that we could be late many times if this happens again. The
headmaster said, 'Any time it happens, just let me know and
everything's all right.' And so that was the lambing and I didn't
get into trouble after all. I doubt such an excuse would be
accepted today, but times were different then.
The Black Horse
Now my father had a beautiful black horse. He broke the horse in
and trained it. He thought the world of my dad and my dad
thought the world of him. One day the straw man came from
Leeds for a load of hay and he saw this horse and he said, 'I want
that horse.' But Mr Helm told him he was really Harry's horse.
However, the man said, 'If my boss comes, he'll offer you
something you can't refuse.'
Two days later a Rolls Royce pulled up in the farmyard. The
visitor asked to see Mr Helm as he had come to see this black
horse. Mr Helm said, 'You're wasting your time, he's not for
sale.' But the man said, 'Let me see it and I'll offer you a price
you cannot reject.'
So he saw the horse and they talked it over after all. My dad was
there and he said, 'If you sell that horse you're selling me.' Mr
Helm replied, 'Oh, don't talk like that, Harry. We'll get another
one for you as good as that.'
He sold the horse and a week later my father was as good as his
word and gave in his notice. He was so upset at the loss of that
horse.
Moving Away
My father had a cousin called Brown who lived in Bradford. The
family had plenty of money and they had bought a farm in
Lincolnshire, a place called "High Burnham", between Axley
and Embsay. They invited my father to go with them to farm
there but unfortunately, this farm hadn't been worked for two
years because there had been an outbreak of swine fever.
So a week after my father gave his notice we went to
Lincolnshire. There was a furniture van to take all our belongings
and Mr Helm said he was very sorry, but it couldn't be helped
and so we went.
And what a terrible time we had! It was quite an isolated place
and I never went to school a day all the time we were there
because it was too far to walk.
It was a really hot summer and the land was what was called
"warp land" because when you ploughed it, it came up like
footballs. My dad couldn't stick that as the horses couldn't walk
and you couldn't roll it. So eventually we decided we'd come
back again. As luck would have it my father got a job at Home
Farm, Parlington, where the farmer was called Mr Swan. But my
father came back as the cowman, not as the horseman because
they already had a horseman.
Home Farm, Parlington
My father and Mr Swan used to milk the cows between them,
morning and night, 20 cows. They started before 6a.m. each
morning and the milkman would be there at 7a.m. to collect the
milk and so we settled into life at Home Farm.
I was about 12 or 13 by then and I used to go all round the farm.
At August Bank Holiday, when we were off school, Mr Swan
used to take me into a field with a horse and a roller and I used to
roll all the corn, but he would never let me sit on the roller. I just
had to have hold with my hands, driving it up and down, but
when no one was looking I used to have a ride on the roller
which was good fun!
Sadly, about two years later, poor old Mr Swan's wife died and
he had no family at all so he decided to sell up. I was knocking
about the farm all the time when they were getting all the
implements into the big field ready to sell. When it was time to
sell the livestock, the horseman said, 'Sid, will you run t'horses?'
We used to run the horses up and down the yard with the people
on either side for them to see. The horseman didn't want any
pomp and ceremony, so I ran the horses up and down for him and
they sold them.
Then it came to the cows and my dad asked me if I was going to
walk the cows. So I said, 'They'll walk alright won't they?.' He
said they would but that he would walk behind me. So he let me
walk all the cows up and down and then it came to the bull. My
dad said, 'You're not going to walk the bull. You just keep out of
the way.' So he got the ring in the bull's nose and put a long
piece of wood through it. The old bull came out and walked up
and down, but all of a sudden he did a big jump and my dad
couldn't hold him. The piece of wood slipped out of his hand but
I was near him and I grabbed it. By then my father had recovered
and the bull was soon safely under control. However, all the
crowd dispersed in a hurry. They were frightened to death!
The bull was sold to a man at Garforth. He was a butcher and had
a slaughter house. He took the bull away the same day.
Farming
Soon afterwards, at the age of 14 I left school and went into
farming to work for Mr Harry Thorpe at Beckside Farm. He had
me booked before I left school because my father was a farmer
and he thought I would fit the bill. Mr Thorpe was 65 and still
played cricket for Aberford cricket club. He was the captain but
at 65 he never got any runs but he used to tell them what to do!
I worked with the horses but as I was only 14 I couldn't put the
horses' collars on so somebody had to help with that and rig
them out in their harness. Then they would take me up to the
fields where the plough was all ready. I would then do the
ploughing with two horses.
I learnt all my farming there; making stacks, laying hedges,
drilling corn and ploughing with the horses. I would ride one
horse to the field and then put both horses in the plough. Then
the field had to be harrowed and drilled with corn. Afterwards it
had to be gone over with the roller to stop the birds getting the
seed out. I did more than three years there but by then I was
nearly eighteen and I thought I should be earning more money. I
wanted 18 shillings a week but they couldn't afford to pay me so
I had to move on.
SIDNEY BANKS
Many thanks to Jane Deacon who has interviewed Sidney on numerous
occasions and typed up his reminiscences and allowed us to publish
them.