Childhood

Miss Sarah Giddings

In the 1880’s we played marbles, tops, jinks, skipping, rounders and ball games, and all the little girls wore pinafores. We went to Band of Hope meetings at the Chapel. There was a fine Salvation Army band in the village, that used to practice in a shed behind 59 High Street, and the Night School lads had a drum and fife band. The village was very lively in them days. On Valentine’s Day we children used to run around singing:

‘Good Morning Valentine

Curl your locks as I do mine

The children of Colbatch Charity School 1890-1910

Two before and two behind

Good Morning Valentine

We would receive apples and an orange each from the houses we sang at, and we were given a packet of sugar candy from the Rectory kitchen window. On Good Friday every child was given a Hot Cross Bun.

Gleaning

the enemy would snatch our corn

When I was ten I was allowed to walk to Eversden to pick gooseberries for a Mr Morris and earned two shillings a week(10p). The church bell used to ring for the Gleaners, who were not allowed to start before 9.00am. It also rang for leaving off at 5.00 pm. Sometimes we would overstep our boundary into Barrington fields and then there would be ructions. We children thought it was fun, but our mothers didn’t as the enemy would snatch our corn and tear up the gleaning sheets. Father would thresh the wheat and dress it, and send it to the miller’s to be ground, and Mother would make our own gleaning bread and get it to the Bakehouse, and it was lovely.