General Chat

I have never been keen on Fireworks .I remember when I was very young ,maybe about 6 being hit by one .I think it was called an aeroplane.I prefer to watch them from indoors.
We used to have firework parties here when the children were young and Fitz,his wife and boys would come.One time Chris lit a rocket and it went off on a tangent and crashed on next doors patio window !!!!!!!!!!.Luckily no damage.But it didn't half put the wind up me.

Went out in my car this afternoon........it has developed a loud tick that speeds up with the car, especially loud when turning left!! Off to the garage in the morning........even MORE EXPENSE!!

I think it was the english ones Shirl as they were referring to local census records.

OH was talking about those e readers the other day Frank.....he has loads of books lying around too.

Off to watch QI now.

I never used to like the Jumping Jacks ,you never knew which way they would jump !!!
Think i liked the Rockets best , although you had to watch out for the sticks falling lol

Ann, could you have some thing in your tyre ?we had a big nail in one of our tyres once and that made a clicking noise as we went along .

Ann, you can only hope that Mandy is right. From my experience that is a good posabillty. If you look before going to the garage, and IT IS a nail, don't do what I did and pull it out, the tyre went down so quick, I had a job to get the jack under the car. to change the wheel.

It's been very quite round here tonight with fireworks. I think they should only be allowed at organised displays. You hear every year about children being burnt by them.

Poor old Hannah, Has to be after something, to do a good turn !!!! You wicked Mother Jane.!!!! Think yourself lucky that she offers.

Me a wicked Mother ? Oh Frank how could you say such a thing .I'm a wonderful Mother.(Most of the time) lol.Maybe I am just being cynical .I will let you know if she asks for something after this fantastic Risotto !!
Fireworks got really loud a little while ago .I couldn't make out if it was from Wicksteed Park or Burton Latimer.But it all sounds peaceful now.Chester looks like he is dead with his head hanging over the side of his bed.I might just see if I can get a snap of him.

I'm off to bed now.I have walkies in the morning as Chris is working .....and it is usually his job to do the walk on a Saturday.
Night Night xx

I'am off too
night night all xx

Good morning Everyone, It's lovely and sunny here today so OH is taking Merlin out for a ride, do them both good and I can get on, uninterupted with a few jobs!! Went out yesterday evening to some friends up the road and had a really great time, lots of laughter and too much drink! just my sort of evening!!! Helped to take our minds off OH's visit to the Consultant which should be any time soon. Beginning to find the whole thing slightly scary!having been so upbeat, the waiting is now starting to get to us! My stepfather used to say that"Peckers must be kept up at ALL times" so we just have to remember that! I haven't heard any fireworks here yet, but I think that we may this evening. Millie doesn't mind them too much, but we had a dog years ago who absolutely HATED bangs of any sort, so firework night was a complete horror story as the poor thing just couched behind the sofa and shook and whined, really awful!!! so I do sympathise Jane over Chester! and Toby too! Sorry to hear about the tooth problems. Years ago OH had an abscess and we had to get the Dr out in the night, who came with his coat over his pyjamas!! (that was in the days when Dr's came to see you day or night!!) and gave OH Pethedin the pain was SO horrendous, so again all sympathy!

Morning Liz and All,

Bright and sunny for the first time in a week here!!!!

It does make everything look nicer dos'nt it.

Ann have'nt had time to look at the Ag. Lab thingy yet but will do so after this message, if OH dos'nt find me something else to do.

We used to have firework parties every year when I was small and we carried them on for our son. Then when we moved to Suffolk, they had a village firework display which was in our neighbours garden at the Old Rectory. The ground there fell away down a big slope so all spectators stood by the house and well away from the huge fire and the fireworks. Always followed by loads of homemade soup ( which the vicar made) and hot dogs and hamburgers.

A lovely day for OH to be out with Merlin, Liz, if the weather is as nice as it is here.

Morning All
I have just seen the owl again.It was on a fence post down the lane just where I saw it yesterday.I got a photo but it was from quite a distance,and then a car came up behind me and it took off.The man wondered what I was doing and he said I should have flagged him down to stop.I think he was a vet who had just been to the stables.I am definitely going to keep my camera with me now each time I go down there.
It is a lovely sunny day,so I am going to get the towels in the machine and hang them out
Liz it sounds like last night was just what you both needed.
Chris used to do home visits at all hours ,but never in his PJ,s .He has never owned a pair lol.

Ann cannot open the third file. Had this problem before with the splatted red cat!!!!!

Morning All,

What a beautiful one too! OH has gone off to do more training for his custody visiting and will then whizz off to see the last half of the footie match so I have a day with a bit of peace!! lol

Yes, I wondered about something in the tyre and I have had that before, but it was a different kind of noise, almost like a cross between a tapping sound and a bit like plucking the spokes on a bike wheel. It got worse yesterday driving to Grantham and back. This morning, would you believe it, I drove to the garage and it never made a sound!!!! The garage said it could have been something caught in the wheel parts that had now fell out. lol I hope it has. At least I get to keep my pennies for now!

Yes, a lovely day for riding Liz. I used to ride around here where I live now when I was a teenager. Too many cars and lorries now though.

Mel, I will save it again and send it again as a different kind of doc. Jane has had trouble opening some I have sent to her. .....something to do with them being docx. Will do it now.

Good morning fair ladies,!!! and Jane. lololo
Wonderful morning here, bright sunshine, no wind and quite pleasent outside. I am off for a walk this morning, down the Canal, I am taking my camera, so hope to get some shots of the trees and boats (if any around).

Glad you are seeing the OWL Jane, Is it wild, or a pet that has been released.???

Liz, When you feel a bit low, it does you the power of good to relax with friends, and let your hair down,try not to worry too much, with all the technology they have today, everything should be allright.

I bet tonight will be the main Firework night. I think there are displays around the parks in Northampton.

Home alone again this morning. She will be home about 2pm. loaded down with stuff that we don't need, there is a name for people like her "SHOP AHOLIC"

No Ann still no good!!! coming up as the same as before. Unknown file format.

Can you copy and paste it on a pm for me please?

Frank I am wondering if it could be an escaped Owl.It just seems to be quite tame and it doesn't seem right for it to be out and about like this in the daytime.
Enjoy your walk and make sure you watch where you are going lol.We don't want any mishaps do we!!!!

Have PM you MEL and have sent you an EM, Jane.

Would it be worth enquiring with the police whether anyone has reported a lost owl Jane? As you say, it doesn't seem too fearful of people. If you see it again try and see if it is wearing a ring.

I'll be joining you for a walk now Frank!! It is supposed to be getting more rainy around here in the next few days, so better make the most of it. BBL

Don't worry too much about the owl Jane. Lots of owls do huint in the daylight it's just that not many people see them.

The barn owl round here is often out in the morning especially if it has young it will hunt all day sometimes.

We have lots of owls around us here and when I go to shut the chickens in I hear all sorts of calls from them. The barn owl actually brushed past my hair once and I felt it but had'nt heard it as they are silient flyiers. I just came down the back door steps and crossed it path of flight at that moment.

Thanks Ann have now saved it.

Will put it on here anyway too.


Agricultural Labourers.
Most would have been older married men who lived in tied cottages with their families away from the farm. Men who were shown as farm servants were likely to be young, unmarried men working short term. They would live in the farmhouse. Some would have the title of their work eg, cowman, shepherd, horseman, but many would do general work or anything that was needed especially on a smaller farm.
Typical Day
5.00am start unless they were looking after the animals (eg cowmen and horsemen) in which case they would be up earlier, meagre breakfast. The journey to the farm could mean a 3 mile walk.
6.00am start work on the farm on allotted tasks. Work 8-10 hours with lunch break. Sundays not worked unless looking after the animals which would have to be fed.
In winter they would maintain the roads, filling holes with stones and repair fences. The grain was stored still on the stalk and would be threshed by hand during winter (hard work) The animals would have to be looked after. Also willow would be harvested.
The farming year would be dependant on the weather.
JANUARY.
Manuring the fields (Human as well as animal!) and liming and marling them. Threshing and selling grain and ploughing. Ploughing was considered a more skilled job.
FEBRUARY
Sow wheat, peas, beans. Gather the stones off fields that will be mown for hay while the grass is short and they can be seen.
MARCH
Finish the spring sowing and prepare the ground for oats, barley, carrots, grass, vetch.
MAY
Sow the Mangold-wurzels to feed the cattle in winter, turn the cattle out, sheep shearing.
JUNE
Haymaking, sow turnips.
JULY and AUGUST
Harvest peas, beans.
SEPTEMBER
Corn harvest.
OCTOBER
Ploughing, sow wheat and rye, lime and manure fields.
NOVEMBER
Sow winter wheat, harvest root crops.
DECEMBER
Ploughing/ grain threshing.
Two Annual Festivals
Plough Monday 1st Monday after Epiphany and after this they went back to work after xmas.
Harvest Festival at the end of September to celebrate the harvest.

There were female Ag Labs too, who often worked in the dairy or looked after small animals/chickens. They did work in the fields too at haymaking and harvest.
Ag Labs would often find work at the Hiring Fairs held at the end of September and which would attract people within a 30 mile radius. They would be hired for a year, less a day, because if they were hired for a full year they would gain the right to settle in that parish and be able to claim poor relief in in that parish in hard times. This could drain the parish resources so they were prevented from doing this by having to return to the parish where they were ‘settled’.

Almost everyone has an ag lab or two in their tree, so we thought that they would be the logical place to start for our new OCCUPATIONS section of the magazine.

What exactly did they do? Did they stay in one place or did they move around to find work? How were they paid and where did they live? Lots of questions to be answered which we hope will bring your 'humble' ag labs to life.

In the 18th and early 19th century the vast majority of the population worked in agriculture. In general, at the beginning of this period, life for the smallholder and the land-less labourer was pretty good. Common land was still plentiful allowing the 'commoners' to grow their own vegetables, raise and graze their animals and to gather fuel for their fires. However, with the continuation of enclosure, the common land was gradually being handed over to single landowners who rented the land out to tenant farmers, who in turn hired casual labourers to work for them. This, combined with a down turn in the economy at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, along with the surplus of agricultural labour generated by the return of the ex-servicemen, meant that life was becoming more precarious for our ag labs. Increased mechanisation, in particular the introduction of threshing machines, which took away valuable winter work from the labourers, made matters even worse.

In the 1830s, the 'swing' riots broke out in the southern counties of England which had been most affected by enclosure. The rioters were demanding a minimum wage, the end of rural unemployment, and tithe and rent reductions. The riots took the form of machine breaking (the hated threshing machines), arson, meetings and general unrest. These riots were the first demonstration of agricultural unrest and this unrest continued particularly after the passing of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act.

So, bearing in mind that their situation was not an easy one, how did our ancestors find work?

Some of them may have been born in tied cottages on farms where their parents were already working. They grew up on the farms and graduated from jobs suitable for children, such as bird scaring, to more skilled jobs as they grew older. They may even have taken over the tied cottage from their fathers at they died and been able to raise their own families on the same farm. Their wives and daughters would have worked in the dairy, vegetable plots or in the house. Although their lives may seem secure and comfortable, they were at the mercy of their employers who could, without any notice, lower their wages or even turn them out of their cottages if they felt they could no longer afford to employ them or if they had become too old or too sick to work.

Hiring fairs, which were held twice a year in Spring and in Autumn, were places where more mobile farm workers could hope to find jobs. These fairs had come into being during the Middle Ages when, after the Black Death, agricultural workers were hard to come by. In order to stop desperate farmers offering excessive wages to find workers it was decided that they should be hired in public and that each worker should carry an emblem of his trade to ensure that workers were hired at the correct rate.

This is a description of a hiring fair from Thomas Hardy’s 'Far From The Madding Crowd' -

“At one end of the street stood from two to three hundred blithe and hearty labourers waiting upon chance. Among these, carters and waggoners were distinguished by having a piece of whip cord twisted round their hats; thatchers wore a fragment of woven straw; shepherds held their sheep-crooks in their hands; and thus the situation required was known to the hirers at a glance".

Hardy paints a very colourful scene but it must have been a little overwhelming for the youngsters, some as young as 12, who were hoping to find work.

The farm workers hired at these hiring fairs, if they were single, might be taken on as farm servants, usually for a year, meaning that they would 'live in' on the farm and share the farmer’s table at meal times. Hired casual labourers from the neighbouring parishes would supplement their work. This system of travelling to the hiring fair and from there to the farm, helps explain the sometimes surprising mobility of our ancestors.

Once at the farm a worker might meet and fall in love with a farm servant from another village and decide to get married. Married farm servants were obliged to live out and so had to find lodgings in the surrounding villages.

Hiring fairs and the system of 'living in' gradually died out during the 19th century and by 1900 it was virtually unheard of for a farm servant to share the farmer’s house.

Agricultural labourers with families to support and no specialised skills to offer were hired on a casual basis for specific tasks. They would be