Farmer George and his Red Tractor

Derrick Perkins

Description

I am the last of a dying breed. World War II is from another time. Unless you were there, in the main, it's now a subject little spoken about but not forgotten. Having said that, my elder grandchild seemed really interested, especially regarding the details when we would digress and talk and view the many videos showing to the world how Europe was dealing with such massive destruction. The outbreak of war was a new beginning for everyone. The period 1939-42 was the main period in which bombing of our cities took place. During this time, night after night, Mum and I could be seen huddled under our stairs with blankets and hot water bottles to protect ourselves, for our own safety and from the cold. Under the stairs seemed a good place to be on these long, cold nights. The noise from the bombing was dreadful. Happily, I was only there a short time.

Sujets

• Histoire

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 12 décembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528952453
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Farmer George and his Red Tractor
Derrick Perkins
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-12-12
Farmer George and his Red Tractor About The Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgements Farmer George Stories Episode 1 Memories by Derrick: An Introduction Episode 2 Derrick’s Evacuation Episode 3 Derrick’s First Day with Farmer George – Ploughing the Field Episode 4 Derrick Helps Farmer George Sow Seeds Episode 5 Derrick Goes to the Farmers’ Market Episode 6 Derrick Helps Growing Vegetables Episode 7 Derrick Meets Lucy Episode 8 Derrick and the Treasure Hunt Episode 9 Derrick’s Home from Home Episode 10 Derrick Learns the Alphabet Backwards Episode 11 Derrick’s First Day at School Episode 12 Derrick Helps at the Cross Hands Car Incident Episode 13 Derrick Goes to the Village Post Office Episode 14 Derrick and Lucy Go on a Dog Walk Episode 15 Derrick’s Journey Home from the Village Episode 16 Derrick Gets a Maths Test Episode 17 Derrick Makes Craft at School Episode 18 Derrick Has Another Day at the Village School Episode 19 Derrick at the School Sports Day Episode 20 Derrick Goes to Town and Visits the Cake Shop Episode 21 Derrick’s Mum’s Visit Episode 22 Derrick Makes a Cotton Reel Tank Episode 23 Derrick and the Annual Scarecrow Competition Episode 24 Derrick Helps Pick Vegetables Episode 25 Derrick Learns the History of Atherstone’s Shrove Tuesday Ball Game Episode 26 Derrick Learns More About the War Outside of Evacuation Episode 27 Derrick in the Snow Episode 28 Derrick’s Evacuation Comes to an End Episode 29 Derrick’s Life Back in Coventry Episode 30 Toys from World War Two Artefact Pack DRESSING DOLLS COTTON REEL TANKS Episode 31 Setting Up WWII Rationing PETROL FOOD COAL RATION BOOKS Conclusion Summary of my Evacuation
About The Author
The author failed the 11-plus! He completed a sheet metal five-year apprenticeship at City and Guilds and acquired intermediate and final certificates. Born in Coventry, he spent his formative years in the city. He got married there, had three children and then got divorced after 16 years. His children and wife walked away. He was then employed as a successful salesman with a well-known large food company. He remarried in 1973, took voluntary redundancy in 1981 and moved south to the County of Devon from the Midlands, where he was born. He bought the village post office and stayed until 1986. After his second wife’s passing in 1992, he became a self-employed gardener. Then he met his third wife and they have been together ever since.
Dedication
I dedicate this book to my two grandchildren, Sam and Nick, without them this book would never have been written. Finally, to my long-suffering wife Ann whose patience and perseverance enabled me to keep sane and keep going.
Copyright Information ©
Derrick Perkins (2019)
The right of Derrick Perkins to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781787103757 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528952453 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
Sam and Nick, my two grandsons, aged 8 and 6, who live in Australia, without them this story would not have been written.
Why, you now ask.
It was an unusual day for Australia, it was wet. As a grandad, the boys asked me to read a story.
“I am not a good story-teller,” I said, putting down their book, “but I can tell you my story, about the experience of living with my grandma and grandad in a small country village during the Second World War. I was known as an evacuee.” So, this was how the story began, I started telling them of the things I would do, like attending my new school, visiting a local farm and how the farmer, George, with his red tractor would pass by my cottage most days to tend his work.
Continuing my acknowledgements, there is a retired vet called Malcolm Welshman, a speaker aboard a cruise liner I travelled on, who encouraged me to write this book.
Then there was a lady author called Sandra Howard, a speaker also on board, she gave me a lot of encouragement.
Then there were two Australian ladies, Wallis and Ray, whom we also met, and they encouraged me.
Lorna Dirveks from the Atherstone History Society, supplying the Ball Game information.
Then there was Rachel, the young daughter of a friend of ours living in Cornwall, Chrissie Norris, who designed the tractor cover.
Tony Lee from Ibstock in Leicestershire, a life-long friend who took me to experience a modern cattle market sale and auction. He also told the story of wartime picking and clamping potatoes.
Finally, to Joanna and Kevin for helping me with all my iPad complexities and their patience with me in arranging the episodes into the order you now see.
Farmer George Stories

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Rachel’s drawing that inspired the cover

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Episode 1

Memories by Derrick: An Introduction
I first met Farmer George when I was four years old. He was a farmer with a large farm.
How could that be, you may ask, when I was living in the West Midlands city of Coventry. Well, my grandparents were born a long time ago and lived in a little village called Sheepy way out in the countryside. Regularly, my mum and dad would take me—their only child—to visit my grandparents by car on a Sunday. It was one and a half hour’s distance away. We would have tea, and I particularly remember sitting at the table enjoying a large pastry cream bun; my treat for the visit. On these visits, Farmer George would pass up my grandparents’ lane on his way to work.
Time passed, and I grew older. I was always asking questions of my mum and dad, grandma and grandad all about tractors, farms and the like on these visits.
On one such visit, although it was summer, it was raining so I could not go and play as normal. I asked Grandad to tell me about farming.
Grandad told me that Farmer George and his wife had inherited their farm many years previously from their parents; since this was quite a normal thing to do back then. It was a very large farm, many fields, cows, sheep, even chickens and many other animals. There were outbuildings in the fields and the farmyard was mainly used for storage.
So firstly, the fields, in the main all-grass fields, as far as the eye could see. Depending on how many cows are being cared for would determine how many fields of grass would be needed.
Before I explain too much, let us start talking about the weather in England. Winter usually starts in December and runs through till the end of February. Cattle, as cows are referred to, usually spend these months indoors in barns known as cowsheds. They are fed mainly on hay, which is dried grass collected in the summer.

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Come March, seeds sown earlier start to grow in the fields, these would provide wheat and barley for bread production. Then potatoes in April for harvesting later on in the year. So, tractors play an important role while working on a farm. A red one looks really cool.

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This book is a collection of stories of my experiences as a child evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War where I experienced many adventures involving Farmer George and his wonderful Red Tractor.

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Episode 2

Derrick’s Evacuation
A long time ago, England was at war with another country, Germany. What does war mean? In simple terms, it means having a disagreement; or simpler still, two people having a verbal (talking) argument.
In a much larger instance, the rows get louder and bigger until a war starts between, in this instance, two large countries. In the world, people live in a country, cities, towns and villages.
So, a war was declared between these countries. Soldiers fought each other with guns. Thousands of men were called up to join the Royal Navy, the Royal Airforce and the Army. People like children, mummies and daddies needed protection. The Prime Minister, he was in charge of all of us, said that all children living in large towns and cities must leave behind their grown-up families and be taken to safety to live in the countryside. This was known as evacuation .
So, Derrick’s story starts here.
Derrick was living with his mummy and daddy in a very large city called Coventry where thousands of people lived and worked in factories and stores. The war was dangerous with the fighting going on. Car manufacturing was taken over by building aircraft engines and tanks. Derrick’s father worked in a factory and his mother in Mrs Lee’s grocers’ shop. A lot of people were moving around the country to do these jobs for the war effort. One day, Derrick’s mummy and daddy drove him, now as a six-year-old, to his Grandad Arthur and Grandma Liz’s home in the peaceful countryside 30 miles away to see if evacuation to stay with them would work. Sheepy was a small parish where less than 800 people lived. On the journey, Derrick heard his parents talking about the war and later on, he saw newspaper photos, especially about Dunkirk.
As they approached the small lane, Derrick straightaway recognised where they were. He saw three cottages and nothing else in sight for miles. Derrick’s grandparent’s cottage was the last one. It had two large sheds and a massive garden, at the bottom of which he heard u