Sound Recordings, Bedfordshire

Description

Joe Brimm and his wife, Mrs. Joe Brimm, recorded in Dunton; talk about a local road to Dunton Lodge; thatching a haystack and a wheatcock, the clothing (knee pads) worn and implements used; using a testing iron to see if a haystack is heating up; potato storage (pitting); shop boy leading the horses pulling harvest waggons; leaving school and starting work ploughing; describes a straw twister; planting potatoes (dibbing); sowing corn by hand (broadcasting); talk of ?rabbies (similar to a turnip); describes the pulping of mangel-wurzles; the weather and the effect of wet on apple and turnip crops; seasonal workers picking peas; farming in the area; soil type. [Tr. 1]


Billy Bartle of Wrestlingworth [copy of an original recording made by Fred Hamer in the ?1960s]; talks about an unidentified song he heard as a boy in a pub; recites some of the words to 'John Barleycorn', and sings a fragment; sings 'All Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough'; unidentified whistle tune; [ Harry Humberstone] sings [unidentified], joined by group for chorus; [ Charlie Young] sings [ 'Widecombe Fair']. [Tr. 2]


Wally Papworth of Sutton; talks about working for a Billy Underwood; leaving school aged 13/14; the family home and family members; lists past village vicars; lists farms on the Sutton estate; underground passage from the Manor House to the church [referred to by the collector]; Sutton Park Golf Club; golf on Biggleswade Common; the family house and its fire grate; lists inhabitants of cottages in the village (since demolished); pig killing; thoughts on the good old days; music appreciation (accordion playing); career as a carpenter; the local tanyard; Billy Bartle, But Humberstone, Charlie Bates and the Bates family; pubs in the village; Mr. Papworth's son. [Tr. 3]


Mr. Hubbinger, Mrs. Hubbinger and Charlie Brittain, recorded in the John of Gaunt pub in Sutton in November 1960; talk about Wally Papworth; local men taking part in Kitchener's Parade (pub visiting in Potton); Sir John Hare, local landowner (and ?MP); thoughts on the young generation; discussion of an armed robbery. [Tr. 4]


In the case of the Wrestlingworth and Sutton recordings, both are referred to on the collector's tape card as a joint recording [?with Fred Hamer].


Tape 6. [6 of 8].

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Physical and technical conditions

9.5cm/sec. All recordings made on the right-hand track. Low recording levels. Adjusted on AC copy.

Related material

Field recordings made by Fred Hamer in Bedfordshire, including Billy Bartle, are held in the Fred Hamer Collection at the National Sound Archive. Collection reference: C433/12.



The collector's lists of informants and interview locations, and correspondence between Bedfordshire County Record Office and the University of Leeds relating to the sound recordings and their deposit, are held in file LAVC/SRE/ARI/058.

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