Gathering The Harvest And Catching Rabbits In The Corn

A Memory of Stoford.

I sometimes stayed with my Uncle Frank and Auntie Florrie Allen in Stoford in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a signalman for the Southern Railway at Yeovil Pen Mill Station and would encourage me to have a wander around his station and goods yard - there was no such thing as "Health and Safety" regulations in those far off happy days! Sometimes he would take me for walks in the nearby countryside and we would gather a whole bag of conkers in the autumn - a whole bag! It was so exciting going back to school the next Monday and showing off dozens of the fattest shiniest conkers anyone had ever seen.

However the memory I cherish most of all is one harvest time. There was a large square field and an ancient tractor was slowly going around the edge of this field cutting the corn and working towards the centre. Uncle Frank took me and Cousin Peter and many young friends to form a line around the field. As the tractor drew nearer and nearer the centre we all shuffled closer and closer to the remaining small square of corn. Suddenly all the rabbits trapped in the middle of the field made a run for safety and we each grabbed any rabbit foolish enough to run close to us. This was my very first experience of gathering the harvest and catching rabbits so I didn't really know what to expect. I was so startled when a rabbit ran right between my legs that I didn't move fast enough to catch it. My excuse is that I was only 8 years old but the older boys were more successful and caught several.