Yesterday's Birch

A Memory of Birch.

I REMEMBER BIRCH IN 1960'S. THE VILLAGE SHOP WAS RUN BY A JEWISH MAN CALLED MR WOLFE. WHEN YOU CROSSED THE ROAD ON TO WHITTLE LANE THERE WAS A ROW OF HOUSES THAT WERE ATTACHED TO THE WHITE HART PUB . AS YOU WALKED UP THE LANE PAST THE SMALL SAND QUARRY ON YOUR RIGHT YOU CAME TO SUNNY BANK COTTAGES ,THE LAST ONE WAS OWNED BY TERRY HURST AND THE RAG AND BONE MEN USED ITS BARN FOR SORTING THEIR RAGS. ACROSS THE ROAD WAS GRANGE FARM, A BUTCHER FROM MIDDLETON CALLED HUGHES OWNED IT. FURTHER UP WAS THE GRANGE OWNED BY THE PEDLEY FAMILY. FURTHER ON WAS THE BIG SAND QUARRY OWNED BY GILBERT DAWSON AND LEASED TO A CONTRACTOR. I REMEMBER AT THE TIME A WORKER LOSING HIS LIFE, GETTING SUFFOCATED IN THE SAND HOPPER AS HE TRIED TO CLEAR A BLOCKAGE. FURTHER UP ON THE SHARP BEND WAS WHITTLE COTTAGE WHERE THE POOLE FAMILY LIVED - THEY WERE MILK MEN AND HAD A FEW MILK ROUNDS. OPPOSITE WAS THE LANE THAT LED TO WHITTLE FOLD FARMS - THE FIRST WAS OWNED BY DAWSONS WHO HAD THE SAND QUARRY. HE MILKED 20 COWS AND KEPT BATTERY HENS . NEXT FARM WAS WALTER ASHBROOKE'S HE FARMED 105 ACRES . HE GREW POTATOES AND OATS AND KEPT 19 BEEF CATTLE AND FREE RANGE POULTRY. HE ALSO HAD SOME GUINEA FOWL, BUT A FOX GOT IN ONE NIGHT AND KILLED THEM. HE HAD A WOOD ON HIS FARM AND I REMEMBER, AS A YOUNG LAD, SAT IN THEM WATCHING THE BABY FOXES PLAYING IN THE SAND BANK WHERE THEY LIVED. I TOLD THE FARMER AND TO MY DISMAY HE HAD THEM GASSED. I WISH I HAD KEPT QUIET NOW. I ALSO WORKED FOR HIM IN THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS HAYMAKING AND HARVESTING THE OATS - SAT ON HIS REAPER BINDER THEN STOOKING THE SHEAVES TO DRY. HARD TO BELIEVE STILL FARMING IN THIS WAY IN THE SIXTIES - NO COMPUTERS - PROPER FARMING. IT WAS A JOY, UNLIKE THE FACTORY FARMING OF TODAY. NEXT FARM UP WAS BROOM HILL - HE MILKED COWS AND HAD A SMALL HERD OF JERSEYS. NEXT FARM WAS HIGHER FIELDS - HE MILKED COWS AND HAD A MILK ROUND. NEXT FARM WAS BUTTERFIELDS HIGH BARN - HE GREW CROPS AND POTATOES. NEXT FARM WAS WOLSTEMHOLME - HE MILKED COWS AND KEPT POULTRY. NEXT STOP WAS THE THREE ARRWS PUB RAN BY MR PAYNE. THIS AREA WAS ALL AGRICULTURE - NO MOTORWAYS, NO INDUSTRIAL ESTATES, BUT SADLY, IN MY VIEW, IT HAS ALL GONE NOW. NOT ONE OF THE SMALL NUMBER OF FARMS THAT ARE LEFT MILK COWS. THEY CALL IT PROGRESS. ITS NOW ONE BIG INDUSTRIAL ESTATE CRISSCROSSED WITH MOTORWAYS. THE LANE HAS BEEN WIDENED AND IS NOW FULL OF RUBBISH THAT PEOPLE DUMP AT NIGHT. WE HAVE GONE FROM A RURAL VILLAGE TO THIS IN THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. IT MAKES ME SO SAD TO THINK OF THE ONCE GREEN FIELDS, THE ABUNDANCE OF NATURE, HAS NOW DISAPPEARED UNDER THE BULLDOZERS - BUT THIS CAN BE SAID OF THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE.

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