Week 57: 30 September - 6 October 1940
By now, the Battle of Britain was entering its final phase. Night-time bombing of cities still continued, and German fighters were sent out with small bomb loads to cause nuisance attacks and further wear down the RAF pilots, already exhausted by night fighting; but the Luftwaffe continued to suffer heavy losses. By the end of October the battle would effectively be over. Also this week, Jews in Warsaw were forced to move into the “Warsaw Ghetto”.
Schools in Caithness went back this week after the long summer holiday, which earned the Education Committee the scorn of the John o’Groat Journal: “Money has been wasted on idle teachers, children have been allowed to get out of touch with the routine of the schoolroom, and all because of an alleged anxiety about the safety of the children.” The writer concluded: “The vacation has lasted over three months, and if the schools were such potential death-traps there was surely ample time during these three months to arrange for shelters.”
Not all teachers had been idle, however. Bower school recorded in its log book on 1 October: “School reopened after Summer Vacation. The Headmaster has been called up for Military service and Mrs Miller, Wick, has taken up duty as temporary Head Teacher with Miss Simpson, Canisbay, as temporary Assistant Teacher.”
Meanwhile, there was still a debate in Wick Burgh Council over what to do about air raid shelters: “It was noted that the scheme in Wick … appears to be restricted to the construction of a refuge room in homes where the houses are suitable.” But, as Councillor Bain pointed out, “there is not much protection to be found in a refuge room”, and he urged the Council to “press for authority to construct substantial or deep shelters.”
The John o’Groat Journal commented on the challenges of gathering this year’s abundant harvest during wartime, and lamented that, “Time was when the corn stacks of Caithness were models of symmetry, and although such can still be seen, there is no denying the fact that the results of slovenly work are often in evidence.” But, as the writer pointed out, “speed is, of course, a primary requirement in war-time, and … the demands of design and uniformity may be regarded as of secondary importance.”
The paper also noted that farmers were required to provide any soldiers who were deployed in helping with the harvest with “reasonable liquid refreshment without charge up to 1s. per day.” The writer then goes on to speculate, rather mischievously, that, “As the liquid refreshment referred to is obviously not water, one wonders how the thirsty trooper is going to get along on his modest shillingsworth” – and suggests that it the allowance could “be made to include lemonade”!
Coming soon! Week 58, 7th - 13th October 1940, will be published on Monday 7th October 2013. To view previous issues please use the menus on the right hand side of the page.
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Comments
Tractors were just coming in although there were was one at Ruther and one at Gillock. John Allan with the help of his brother in law the blacksmith made a "tractor" from a large car but it was not a success although it was quite a talking point.
Most farms used binders and it was a sight to see three horse drawn binders, in a line ahead, harvesting a large field of oats at Brabsterdorran.
Referring to "corn stacks" these were called screwes in Caithness and great was the pride farm servants took in building the perfect screwe. It was a work of art and I doubt if there is more than a handful of men, who have that skill, alive today. The whole business of harvesting was a stressful time for all concerned weather, machinery breakdown, lack of man power etc put a great strain on everyone and it was back breaking work too.
What contributed to a poorly built screwe was that if the farmer started to take in the oats which were in sheaves stooked in the fields , had not been left for a short period for the straw to dry out suffiently - the sheaves in the staddle of the screw would begin to "heat" spontaneously and "compost" making the screwe take a list. The farmer to stop this heating would have to make holes in the screwe by pulling out sheaves to allow ventilation. I remember crawling into one of these holes and being astonished at the heat coming from the straw. It was this phenomena that probably gave rise to the comment on the slovenly appearance of the stacks raised by the Correspondent.
Every harvest from now on in the war years was hard work for us bairns as we got our tasks to do and it all culiminated in the famous "Tattie holidays" when squads of pupils were used to harvest the potato crop.
By now we youngsters were always seeing older brothers or sisters uncles and aunts coming home on leave after completing their training all dressed in their uniforms. One of my uncles had a uniform which had an arm Flash depicting the outline of a red bomb - he was in "The bomb disposal squad" . We bairns held him in awe as we though he must be the bravest of the brave but we were disillusioned when after the war he said he had volunteerd for that work because he got extra rations, more leave and less of the usual bull around at that time. He came through the war without a scratch and dug out many bombs.
Thanks for your efforts the work you do here will live on
JC
Re tractors - at that time farmers were desperate to get a tractor - they were usually Fordsons or Massey Harris. A few farmers would take a old car and did their best to attach a draw bar but it was never a success as the car did not have low enough gears .Tyres were unsuitable too plus the engines soon over heated.
I remember, about this time, seeing my first tractor it was at a field near Gavinston Lodge, Bower. It was a Massey Harris, with a single front wheel and terribly noisy. It was ploughing a field and I remember quite a gathering of farmers etc who had come along to watch. The owner of the tractor was Mr Alexander, Ruther who started a dealer ship in farm machinery. From then on Tractors began to arrive in Caithness with most large farms having a tractor and slowly the number of horses decreased proportionally.
Best regards
JC