Agriculture on the Nottinghamshire Wolds: Interviewee 07: B & M Savage

Bernard was born in 1926 at Wysall where he grew up. He married Margaret Oldham and they lived in Mrs Eggleston's cottage on the Wymeswold Road.
In 1969 they moved to live with Margaret's parents who had moved next door to Wembley Lodge. Margaret was born in 1925 at Wembley Farm, Keyworth.

To enlarge click on map

The farms in Wysall: The first farm on the Widmerpool Road was Tuckwoods, Northfield Farm. He was a cattle dealer and he milked a considerable number of cows. He also had a farm on the Main Street, which was the Manor House Farm. Opposite side was the Widmerpool Lane Farm, which was Derricks. William Derrick until 1939/40 when he lost his wife and he moved home to the Laurels. He was followed by Mr Henstock, who came from Shelford, that was to Widmerpool Lane Farm. The next farm was Rectory Farm In those days it was a Mr Ernest Atkinson who had land up the Widmerpool Lane... and he left there and the Widmerpool Estate let it all to Mr Henstock, so he had both the farms.

Opposite side the road there was George Bryans the builder, who had three brothers. They all had around thirty acres of land and they used to fatten beast for market as well as doing the building.Two of them had land down the Widmerpool Lane. Ernest Bryans had two fields below what was the Planting. They've pulled it down now; that's down the new road. He also had the Pump Field which Roger Twidale's now has, and it's incorporated in one of his fields. I know this because I used to go and shepherd his beast for him. George Bryans the builder, he had land, the big field at the bottom of Fleetings Hill, which has now got a lake... He had the land that they built all the houses behind The Gas, up to the top. So he kept a few beast. And Wooton Bryans, he had a little place up the Bunny Road, opposite Sewells. They say him and his mother used to live in the shed at one time, but that was before I can remember. That was around twenty or thirty acres and he made his living. He used to go up once a day and milk the cow and yes, that was the living in those days. And coming down back into the village was the Laurels, which was the Derricks. John Derrick, he was father to William and Albert. Albert had so much of the land and so much of one yard and William went home and had another piece of the yard. The stackyard of the barn had the corn barn, was opposite the pub, which is now three houses, and the rest of the building they pulled down for two bungalows. That's where the Derricks live now... Opposite side of the road on the corner was Mr Ferreira's farm. When I was a lad he used to milk. He was the first one to go TT milk in Wysall and he used to deliver his milk round hospitals in Nottingham... He also used to make ice cream in the summer and it was beautiful ice cream. And then he left there and they went down the Bunny Lane at Keyworth; they moved the cattle down there
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Going down the street there was, first house before you get to what was the Post Office My uncle Frank used to live there; he was the road sweeper. Next-door was the Post Office, which was a Mr & Mrs Peatman. He was a wheelwright as well as the postman. That was incorporating two jobs. Opposite side of the road was Gamekeeper's Cottage with kennels up the yard... Next door to it was the Emersons' farm, the farm stackyard and the buildings, which now incorporates five or six houses I think. Opposite side the road was Manor Farm, which Mr Tuckwood had with the old Manor House - has been refurbished... and all done up and, the yard and the buildings. The old barn on the front that was pulled down, and there's a house built there as well as houses in the yard at the back. Opposite side of the road was the slaughterhouse for the butchers, which is now living accommodation. And on the entrance to the churchyard, Mr Trafford was the butcher to well into the forties, well after the war, because Needham took over after Trafford left. The slaughterhouse belonged Manor Farm

To enlarge click on school photograph 1935/36

The saddler: Joe Hind, the saddler, he used to come from - he lived at Bunny - but he had a shop in Ruddington, selling shoes as well as saddlery stuff. And he used to repair shoes and all horse saddles and bridles. And he used to come round on a Thursday. And he'd pick up - round Costock, Rempstone back to Wysall - stuff from farmers for repairing. And he'd come into a little cottage that was on the pub car park next door to Granny Wilson's. And we as kids used to go and sit and watch him repairing these saddles, stitching them and putting new pieces of leather in and mending boots. It was ideal. There was nothing else for us lads in those days. So we usually had a fire. And in the wintertime we used to go and sit there and talk to him and watch him. It was really interesting to watch him... it was all beaver boots in those days.

The Miller: Me granddad, he had a, it was like a smallholding, but he did the milling as well. Farmers used to take the grain and he used to do the milling. He kept a few cows because he used to deliver milk around Keyworth and he had a funny old bike. It had got two stays on the back wheel and he used to go to the back of the bike, put his two feet on these stays and then get on his seat like that. Unfortunately, he got knocked off his bike with somebody's dogs, and I think that stopped him going. But I used to do quite a bit for him as well. I'd call there in the morning after I'd been delivering the milk round the village. This was after I'd left school and I suppose I was at work. He'd say, "I want you to pull this bag up for me." So that was a bag of grain to go to the top for it to go down into the chute for him to do the milling you see. I said, "I can't stop, me dad says I've got to go home, straight home." "Oh no," he said, "you'll do that for me." So I used to have to do that for him.

Land girl: 1924, my grandfather Mr Jim Oldham from Rose Cottage Keyworth, which is opposite the Chapel on Selby Lane, said if my father could find water he would build him a house. And they got the house built; and they were married in 1924. There's a little field down there, and it's on the map, and that's my grandfather's little field - and it always stays my grandfather's little field. All the other fields that my father had, I don't know how or when they came into his occupation... The names of the fields are what my father called it. He used to milk quite a few cows. He was the first farmer to go TT. He used to deliver milk round the village at Keyworth. And I used to have to go with a bucket and measure on my bicycle before I went to school. She first started it, mum first started. I don't remember if it was half-a-pint or a pint of milk a day, she went to Keyworth for. Then when I was eleven, they bought me my first bicycle, and then I used to have to go then and carried on right until I left school at fourteen. And it was the year war broke out. They said that I had to have a job before I could leave school. My father wanted me to go into work in a factory. There was a surgeon from Nottingham Hospital; his wife wanted me to go there to be a nanny; Dr Swann, but the child wasn't old enough. So I had to go to work in this factory in Keyworth. Hosiery - men's half hose. And I tried to get a job on the machines, but I used to do a little bit. I used to go back early after dinner and one of the girls used to show me what to do and everything. But eventually the boss put me on invisible mending. And that meant that I had to mend these socks before they went to the dyers. So that when they came back you could not see where they'd been repaired. Anyway, during the war they amalgamated with a firm - well it was one of the boss's relations in Nottingham. And I used to go to Nottingham then to work doing the same thing. And the boss called me in one day and said, "I'm afraid you've got leave more holes." I said, "But I can't." And he said, - well, I was on piecework then. He said, "I'll have to put you on flat rate." So I thought, "Right, this is it, I'm getting out; I've had enough." I was seventeen-and-a-half and I went down to the Labour Exchange before I came home one night.

I told them I wanted to join up. And she said, "Well what do you want to do." I said, "I'd like to go in the WRENS." "What education have you had? Have you had a secondary education?" I said, "No, I'm sorry." "Well you can't go in the WRENS then." I said, "Well what have you got then for me?" She said, "Well you can go in the Land Army." So that's where I ended up. I went to, I don't know how it came about, but I was asked to go to Wyn Lodge down Bunny Lane at Keyworth. Mr Walker asked for me to go and work there. And I was there nearly six years. During that time I worked at Wysall with Mr Ferreira sometimes. I did all sorts of jobs, a lot of tractor work. I used to work outdoors a lot. I didn't have a lot to do with the milking. There were other girls from the Land Army Hostel in Bunny. They used to employ them to come and work there.

Mr. Fereira and Elevator
at Wynn Lodge, Wysall

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