Letter from an Evacuee
George Holm, an evacuee during the 2nd World War, has got in touch with the following memory. Does anyone remember George, or know of the farm to which he was evacuated? His email address is george.c.holm@gmail.com.
"I was one of 12 evacuees @ a farm house in Old Hutton 74 years ago, what few memories I have the one that stands out is this.
We were stood around a large galvanized tub, naked, they started with the eldest a girl, skinny and tall about 4ft, the tub was 1/2 full of calamine lotion which was painted onto every inch of her skin and into every wrinkle and crevice. I was last, I still remember the softness of the Camel hair brush, then we stood arms stretched until it dried.
This was the 2nd place we were sent being removed from elsewhere with scabies, lice ,and ringworm.
We were so fortunate to be with a young couple, having no children of there own what they did was amazing, I recall all of us being around a large fireplace eating porridge, when two fried eggs were put in the bowl, ready or not. It snowed one day so deep two farmers dug a trench through a field to the school. Over the years I have heard that a boy named Reese returned to the farm and spent his life there."
"I was one of 12 evacuees @ a farm house in Old Hutton 74 years ago, what few memories I have the one that stands out is this.
We were stood around a large galvanized tub, naked, they started with the eldest a girl, skinny and tall about 4ft, the tub was 1/2 full of calamine lotion which was painted onto every inch of her skin and into every wrinkle and crevice. I was last, I still remember the softness of the Camel hair brush, then we stood arms stretched until it dried.
This was the 2nd place we were sent being removed from elsewhere with scabies, lice ,and ringworm.
We were so fortunate to be with a young couple, having no children of there own what they did was amazing, I recall all of us being around a large fireplace eating porridge, when two fried eggs were put in the bowl, ready or not. It snowed one day so deep two farmers dug a trench through a field to the school. Over the years I have heard that a boy named Reese returned to the farm and spent his life there."
Walling in the 1930s
Left: A walling class run by Newton Rigg in the mid 1930s at Bridge House at Old Hutton
The following item appeared on the Nostalgia page of the Westmorland Gazette on 21st February 2013 [with the photograph shown here - click on the photograph to see a larger version]:
Early learning flowed from 'whisky money'
Andrew Humphries, a governor at Newton Rigg at Penrith, recalls how the agricultural college came into being in the nineteenth century.
Crayston Webster, a Kendal land agent in 1868 (and later a Newton Rigg governor), advocated 'a better education for the rising agricultural population' and said "In dealing with the various manures pressed on his notice . . . the farmer has in some measure to grope his way in the dark".
With a growing urban population, competition from the 'New World' and new railways that linked producers with consumers, change was not optional - but how would the response be funded? It came almost by accident in the form of 'Whisky Money'.
The temperance movement secured government support to reduce the number of licensed premises in rural areas. To compensate publicans, six pence per gallon was introduced in 1890, rakising hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
A public outcry demanded that the fund be redirected for public use, including technical education.
Westmorland County Council allocated £800 of its £2,000 to agriculture. The community indicated the need for classes in agriculture and dairying, with more than 300 enrolments in 1891.
Sceptical farmers needed persuasion. One Kendal farmer exclaimed: 'Dang ther dairy scheuls . . . my missus allus med good butter and got top price and I'll back her an t'ould way agin ther new notions fer out thou likes to lig doon'.
Others were persuaded by the evidence. In 1897 the dairy school at Kirkby Lonsdale demonstrated that mechanical separation produced 83 lbs of butter from 80 quarts of cream, compared to 80 lbs of butter from 93 quarts of cream by hand separation.
Outreach demonstrated the relationship between science technology and the economy that flowed from new skills.
Fred Punchard indicated in 1892 that Westmorland would support the idea of developing a fixed college, leading the 'sister counties' to acquire Newton Rigg, on the county boundary. Punchard, as chairman, guided the partnership through the first decade until his death in 1906. The press, in tribute, asserted him to be 'not only one of the most capable agriculturalists, but one who is the best acquainted with agricultural law of any man in England'.
Westmorland had confounded the 19th century critics of its insularity and provided a national model of collaboration and a timely expression of its potential to practice with science.
The following item appeared on the Nostalgia page of the Westmorland Gazette on 21st February 2013 [with the photograph shown here - click on the photograph to see a larger version]:
Early learning flowed from 'whisky money'
Andrew Humphries, a governor at Newton Rigg at Penrith, recalls how the agricultural college came into being in the nineteenth century.
Crayston Webster, a Kendal land agent in 1868 (and later a Newton Rigg governor), advocated 'a better education for the rising agricultural population' and said "In dealing with the various manures pressed on his notice . . . the farmer has in some measure to grope his way in the dark".
With a growing urban population, competition from the 'New World' and new railways that linked producers with consumers, change was not optional - but how would the response be funded? It came almost by accident in the form of 'Whisky Money'.
The temperance movement secured government support to reduce the number of licensed premises in rural areas. To compensate publicans, six pence per gallon was introduced in 1890, rakising hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
A public outcry demanded that the fund be redirected for public use, including technical education.
Westmorland County Council allocated £800 of its £2,000 to agriculture. The community indicated the need for classes in agriculture and dairying, with more than 300 enrolments in 1891.
Sceptical farmers needed persuasion. One Kendal farmer exclaimed: 'Dang ther dairy scheuls . . . my missus allus med good butter and got top price and I'll back her an t'ould way agin ther new notions fer out thou likes to lig doon'.
Others were persuaded by the evidence. In 1897 the dairy school at Kirkby Lonsdale demonstrated that mechanical separation produced 83 lbs of butter from 80 quarts of cream, compared to 80 lbs of butter from 93 quarts of cream by hand separation.
Outreach demonstrated the relationship between science technology and the economy that flowed from new skills.
Fred Punchard indicated in 1892 that Westmorland would support the idea of developing a fixed college, leading the 'sister counties' to acquire Newton Rigg, on the county boundary. Punchard, as chairman, guided the partnership through the first decade until his death in 1906. The press, in tribute, asserted him to be 'not only one of the most capable agriculturalists, but one who is the best acquainted with agricultural law of any man in England'.
Westmorland had confounded the 19th century critics of its insularity and provided a national model of collaboration and a timely expression of its potential to practice with science.
The wall in 2013
Wilson Robinson, who now lives at Oxenholme, is one of the young men on the photograph, and was able to name everyone. He has written the following letter to the Gazette (which may or may not be published!), and Arthur and Jean Robinson took him to have his photograph taken beside the same wall:
I looked with great interest at the picture of a walling class on the Nostalgia page of the 21st February edition of the WG because the person second from the left happens to be myself now aged 96. Sadly all the other people in the photograph have passed on.
The class was actually one of a series organised by Hutton Young Farmers’ Club and took place around spring 1936. I think the Cumberland and Westmorland Farm School (Newton Rigg) funded them. I remember that one of the main items of conversation on the day was my girlfriend Phyllis whom I married in 1938. We moved from my home at Strickley, New Hutton, to farm at Over Bleaze in 1939 and then to High Bracken Hall, Gatebeck, in 1945. My son Stephen now farms there.
On the far left of the photo is Wilson Park who lived at Town House, Old Hutton, and then moved to farm at Drybeck, Killington. He was the chairman of Hutton YFC.
Third from the left is Edward Capstick whose family farmed the land where the class was held. He took over the farm from his father and died just before Christmas 2012 at the age of 96. His son Stephen now farms Bridge House in Old Hutton.
Fourth from the left is Jim Thompson, a first class competition waller, from Far Audlands, Preston Patrick, and was the instructor for the classes.
James Waller is next. He was a young lad then and his family farmed Middleshaw Hall, Old Hutton. They later moved to Beck Mills at Skelsmergh.
Bending down in front of the wall is my cousin Len Robinson from Canny Brow Foot, Gatebeck, which he later farmed until his death. He became very interested in walling and went on to win many walling competitions so he was often called a ‘medal waller’.
On the far right is my brother Willie Robinson who farmed Strickley, New Hutton. His son Henry and grandson James still farm there.
Finally, I thought you might like to see what the wall is like after 77 years so I have attached a photo of it with me standing in roughly the same position as I was in 1936. It looks a bit wrinkled but I think it has stood the test of time fairly well.
I looked with great interest at the picture of a walling class on the Nostalgia page of the 21st February edition of the WG because the person second from the left happens to be myself now aged 96. Sadly all the other people in the photograph have passed on.
The class was actually one of a series organised by Hutton Young Farmers’ Club and took place around spring 1936. I think the Cumberland and Westmorland Farm School (Newton Rigg) funded them. I remember that one of the main items of conversation on the day was my girlfriend Phyllis whom I married in 1938. We moved from my home at Strickley, New Hutton, to farm at Over Bleaze in 1939 and then to High Bracken Hall, Gatebeck, in 1945. My son Stephen now farms there.
On the far left of the photo is Wilson Park who lived at Town House, Old Hutton, and then moved to farm at Drybeck, Killington. He was the chairman of Hutton YFC.
Third from the left is Edward Capstick whose family farmed the land where the class was held. He took over the farm from his father and died just before Christmas 2012 at the age of 96. His son Stephen now farms Bridge House in Old Hutton.
Fourth from the left is Jim Thompson, a first class competition waller, from Far Audlands, Preston Patrick, and was the instructor for the classes.
James Waller is next. He was a young lad then and his family farmed Middleshaw Hall, Old Hutton. They later moved to Beck Mills at Skelsmergh.
Bending down in front of the wall is my cousin Len Robinson from Canny Brow Foot, Gatebeck, which he later farmed until his death. He became very interested in walling and went on to win many walling competitions so he was often called a ‘medal waller’.
On the far right is my brother Willie Robinson who farmed Strickley, New Hutton. His son Henry and grandson James still farm there.
Finally, I thought you might like to see what the wall is like after 77 years so I have attached a photo of it with me standing in roughly the same position as I was in 1936. It looks a bit wrinkled but I think it has stood the test of time fairly well.