Surname
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Holland
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Forename
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Dudley
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Date of recording
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April 2014
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Year of birth
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1934
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Place of Birth
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Pettistree
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Occupation
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Framer
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Fathers occupation
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Farmer
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Present Address
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Aldeburgh
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Location Interview
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Aldeburgh
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Interviewer
Summary |
John Hambley
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Duration
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165 Mins approx
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No of tracks: 15
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DUDLEY HOLLAND
Farmer in Aldeburgh and East Suffolk Aged 80 at date of interview Interviewed by John Hambley at Aldeburgh Hall, Aldeburgh 29 April and 2014 Track 1 Describes farming family background: grandfather farmed at Kells Farm, Dallinghoo, where father was born; father married in 1933 and moved to Grove Farm Pettistree, where Dudley was born in 1934. Grandfather, father and uncle in partnership also farmed at nearby Home Farm, Dallinghoo. Describes happy childhood, idyllic picnics and playtimes in the garden with younger sister Rita and the cowman’s son who lived on the farm. Mentions that no work was ever done on the farm on a Sunday, even during the war, other than the necessary milking of cows. Describes starting primary school at Wickham Market at same time as sister, he at 5 years old and she at 4. Mentions that pupils stayed there until the age of 14. First awareness of war was when concrete “pillboxes” were built at road junctions, holes dug in roads for mines and concrete blocks laid. Says that brick walls were built in front of the school windows to resist blast. Describes the experience of going into dark, damp air raid shelters dug in the school playing field. Says that daylight air raids were less frequent than night time ones, but bombing was regular. Describes how he and sister were walking to school when they saw a German aircraft under low cloud above them. When they reached school, pupils were already in the shelters. Sister went through the girls’ entrance and into a shelter, but he decided to go back home. Says that later that day, when he was at home having lunch with his father, bombs fell on Wickham Market High Street and “four or five” people were killed. Mentions that the air-raid shelter on the farm was a boot room with very solid walls, where mother and children would lie on mattresses. Describes how father would not be with them because as a Special Constable he had to be out during air raids checking that local houses had no lights. Mentions that agricultural workers were exempt from conscription because of the need for food when imports were scarce. Mentions helping on the farm from a young age. Describes how most farms were still using predominantly horses and even ploughing with horses, but because his family also did contracting for other farms they were more advanced in mechanisation, having several; tractors as well as horses. Remembers helping load sheaves of corn on to the farm carts, “very pleasant on warm summer days”. Track 2 Further description of stacking stooks of corn to ripen and dry before stacking. Describes threshing with steam engines. Mentions how he and other boys would enjoy catching the rats and mice that came out during threshing. Track 3 Describes farming 500 acres, with a dairy herd and fruit and soft fruit, employing 17 people plus casual labour for fruit picking. Describes hand spraying of all fruit, until in 1946 father asked a local engineer to make a mechanical sprayer that could be pulled by a tractor. Says father was very progressive: one of the first people to start mechanical irrigating, and the first too import a caterpillar tractor from Canada. Describes milk distribution via Milk Marketing Board, and sending baskets of strawberries and blackcurrants by railway wagon from Wickham Market or Woodbridge stations to be sold at Covent Garden in London. Mentions the difficulty of keeping produce before the days of gas storage and cold storage. Says that during the war, despite the need for food, 25% of stored apples would rot. Describes leaving Wickham Market School in 1945 with a scholarship as a day pupil to Framlingham College, 12 miles away by bus. Mentions not missing a day of school even during the bitter winter of 1947. Describes enjoying sport and not concentrating on the academic side of school life. Mentions becoming a boarder later, and describes first night as a boarder and the difficulties of school life. Track 4 Mentions failing School Certificate exam but getting a distinction in geography. Describes various school sports including rugby, hockey and cricket, and being in first cricket XI and first rugby XV at fifteen years old. Mentions being taught by well-known local golfer and sportsman Mr Winstanley. Says he wanted to go to agricultural college after leaving school at 17, because “there was talk of nationalisation of agriculture” and he thought he would have a better chance of employment with a qualification. Mentions getting a place at Writtle College, but being encouraged by the college principal to do National Service first. Describes lodging in a cottage in Writtle with 3 other students, with whom he has retained a lifelong friendship. Track 5 Mentions that only a few agricultural college students ended up in farming, most went into ancillary trades or other unrelated jobs. Describes the value of going to college, but says that the business side of farming was not well taught. Describes starting National Service in June 1953, with basic training at Bury St Edmunds. Mentions joining “potential officers platoon” made up entirely of public schoolboys, but not getting a commission. Mentions spending much time playing cricket and hockey before being sent to Korea to join the Commonwealth Brigade of peacekeepers. Describes leaving Liverpool on a troopship and being seasick for 7 days. Mentions spending 3 months in Hong Kong training and observing before leaving for Korea via Japan in September 1953, a year after the Korean war ended. Describes the devastated country, and troops living under canvas in the winter. Track 6 Describes further experiences as an NCO in Korea. Mentions flying for the first time, to Tokyo for a fortnight’s leave. Describes going to transit camp in Seoul before catching troopship home to England via Japan. Mentions brief relationship with Japanese girl. Mentions visiting Hiroshima for a few hours. Describes time at Writtle College after National Service, becoming President of the Students’ Union. Describes student incidents, including full-size mechanical elephant taken from Southend to Writtle. Track 7 Mentions further time at Writtle, and various college clubs and activities. Describes organising dances with local girls’ colleges, and getting his sister Rita to bring a busload of girls from her London college.Mentions College reunions which have continued every year for 57 years. Including students and wives or partners, staff members, the Principal (now dead) and his widow who is still attending in her 90s. Mentions two reunion dinners at the House of Lords, courtesy of fellow-student Lord Carter who was for a time Govt spokesman on agriculture. Track 8 Further mention of reunion dinners. Co-organiser is Philip Turnbull who farms at Gosbeck Hall. Describes going back to family farm after leaving college in 1957, particularly driving large caterpillar tractor. Mentions using tractor with bulldozer blade to clear blocked roads in the heavy winter of 1963, in which many houses and farms were cut off for days. Says he learned to drive at 13, driving farm lorries, eventually getting a licence at 18. Describes getting engaged in 1959, meeting his wife at Melton Young Farmers, and getting married in 1960. Describes social and educational activities of Young Farmers club. Mentions how in 2014 Suffolk Young Farmers organised relief for the Somerset Levels flooded farms. Describes father buying Aldeburgh Hall Farm in 1960. Describes moving in with his wife in December 1960. Mentions starting with small dairy herd of 40, and expanding in 1968 into a larger 110-head herd with new buildings. Mentions that herd was grazed on Hazlewood Marshes, recently permanently flooded. Track 9 Describes also looking after another herd of 100 on the family farm at Wickham Market. Describes process of buying farm. Mentions that farmland was still in a poor state following 1953 floods, but grants were obtained for draining and ploughing. Mentions that that a new pump was installed made by Stephen Hawes, the inventor of the floating pump. Mentions Govt policy of ensuring self-sufficiency in food supply. Compares farming in 1960s with today: then smaller farms, farmers working longer hours, physically harder work. Says farmers and farm workers today need to be better educated to use modern machinery. Says always farmed in partnership with father and brother. Mentions being Deputy Director of the Suffolk Show one year, sending his herdsman and cows to demonstrate milking - and later showing cows at the Show, winning a trophy. Describes winning milk yield prizes in county competitions. Track 10 Describes the technique of making silage. Describes the farm economy. Mentions that cows are a 365 day 24hrs a day tie, but describes satisfaction in building and improving herd. Describes problems of slurry management and use of slurry on light soil. Mentions installation of mechanical feeding system in 1968. Mentions daughters Sarah born 1961, Bridget 1963, Rebecca 1969 and their careers and children. Track 11 Says farming requires hard work and dedication. Mentions growing cereal crops and sugar beet on the drained marshes. Describes techniques of potato planting. Discusses farming specialisation and expense of machinery. Describes relationship between farmers and buyers, and the problems with contracts and payment. Digresses into discussion of Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Mentions role of National Farmers Union and farm co-operatives. Track 12 Mentions being Chairman of Suffolk Friesian Club, and being Chair of cattle breeding centre at Beccles. Describes continuing to play sport for 40 years, including with Ipswich Hockey Club where he was captain for 5 years; playing badminton in the Ipswich League; tennis on his own grass court at Aldeburgh Hall and in the Framlingham Tournament; cricket until he was 32, but cricket did not fit in with farming and a young family - then golf after retirement. Says he got to lowest golf handicap when he was 75. Says he would encourage young people to go into farming as long as they are prepared to work long hours. Says good jobs are available, although buying a farm would be beyond most people’s reach. Mentions break-up of marriage and divorce settlement, at which point there was no alternative to giving up the farm. Mentions selling the land but staying in the farmhouse. Mentions second marriage and grandchildren. Mentions relations with Aldeburgh townspeople. Track 13 Further mention of problems of farming on the edge of the town. Mentions being introduced to Freemasonry at home and at school. Says father and grandfather were members of a Lodge in Woodbridge, so he joined the Masons in the 1960s. Talks about Freemasonry and its ceremonies. Emphasises the charitable nature of Freemasonry, and describes it “as not a secret society but a society with secrets”. Talks about Deben Farmers club of which he was Chair for a long period. Track 14 Discusses shooting, and eventually giving up shooting because he did not like wounding birds. Describes the pleasure of working with gundogs. Says he has no compunction about shooting rabbits because they are such pests. Mentions night shooting of rabbits. Talks about Aldeburgh, but says his main connections are still with Wickham Market and Woodbridge. Mentions expansion of the town. Returns to discussion of Freemasonry, and says learning your part as a Mason is good for the brain. Mentions he wishes he had worked harder at school. Says he has had a happy life but not as successful as he would have wished. Anecdote about shooting with Chief Constable of Suffolk. Track 15 Continues shooting anecdote. Describes himself as a diplomat. Talks about what he would have done had he not been a farmer. Stresses importance of getting on with neighbours. |