b'up all night at lambingthe local birds and flowers by their Yorkshire dialect time checking thenames. They would often go out for the whole ewes every twoday taking a picnic and on the way home collect hours.He countedblackberries or firewood. They would go fishing for sheep by the Norsetiddlers in the Archbishops Fishpond and, when they shepherds tallyyan,got older, the boys took shotguns to shoot rabbits tyan, tethrabumfitand pigeons which they sold to the local butcher for a (15). bit of pocket money.Hollie (picturedIn the summer the children would make a hole opposite, in 1917,in the top of hay stacked in a barn then tunnel out on his 21st birthday)diagonally to the bottom making an exciting slide. One rode the first motorlittle girl who was rather stout became stuck on one bike ever seen inoccasion and the cousins got her out by sliding down the Pocklington areaon top of her! When visiting Thixendale they slid down and was cautionedthe grassy daleside on tin trays. They played with the for speeding afterpet dogs and lambs and rode the donkey and pony, overtaking the local bobby riding a bicycle along Theeven travelling across country to each others farms Mile. this way. In the winter they went tobogganing and they After that he ran a series of shaky cars, one ofall learned to skate on the local ponds.which was a Jowett and one that his cousins dubbedIndoor pastimes included needlework, chess, the yellow peril after a wheel was seen booling downdraughts, pencil & paper games and quizzes. The Garrowby Hill ahead of it. favourite amusement was the singing of folk songs Hollie was very distressed when the family hadand Victorian ballads round the walnut piano. On to leave Beechwood but eventually he got work asSundays hymns were sung accompanied by the a commercial traveller selling fertilizers for Hadfieldsharmonium. Best of all, with visiting cousins, they of Liverpool and buying corn and selling animalplayed charades which involved dressing up and feedstuffs for Bradshaws of Driffield. producing theatrical presentations of 3 or 4 mini plays Hollie served on Beverley Town Council during theincorporating the syllables of the word to be guessed.1950s and 60s, where he was elected Alderman. He died in l983 and he is buried in Queensgate Cemetery,Social EventsBeverley. Tennis and croquet parties were popular and every Everday Life at Beechwood village had its own cricket team. Often churches and chapels would raise a team from their young people.Life was physically very hard by todays standards.The family celebrated national events with a fire on There was no gas or electricity and water wasWilton Beacon and they attended local events such as drawn from a pump in the yard. Winters were muchthe Bishop Wilton Show (Dorothy Houfe, Frank Parker more severe in those days and Beechwood couldand Arthur Houfe are pictured here in 1920 on the old be cut off from the outside world by snow for up toShow Ground). six weeks. Stocks of wood and coal had to be well built up before winter set in. Staples such as flour and salt were stored by the sackful, good supplies of pasta, rice, tea and coffee were kept along with cured hams and other meats. Homemade pickles, chutneys and jams, bottled fruits (pears, greengages and plums) played an important part in the diet, as did dried home-grown herbs such as mint and parsley. Potatoes and other root vegetables were stored outside in earth pies, apples were stored fresh in a loft. These were supplemented by bought itemsraisins, currants; spices such as peppers and curry powder; vinegars and Yorkshire Relish. Small beer was kept for the farmworkers.In spite of all the work involved, all the family seemAll the family attended the Wesleyan Methodist to have enjoyed life at the farm and looked backChapel and they supported all the chapel social on it as one of their happiest times, especially forevents. They all signed the pledge which meant total the children. Along with visiting cousins they wouldabstinence from alcohol (and none of them ever did explore the surrounding countryside and knew alldrink to excess although later they were a little flexible 36 BULLETIN 3'