Mr. WILFRID ROBERTS
(Newcastle Programme)
THIS MORNING Wilfrid Roberts is to talk about the horsemen of the farm, those picturesque figures to be seen against the skyline ploughing their furrows, or perhaps with the day's labour over, riding bareback along the lane in the gnat-hung sunset or the dusk.
They plough, they cut the hay, they make the cornstacks ; skilled labour for which they are paid 38s. a week in return for long hours. But most of these horsemen are young and amazingly skilful. They can thatch a rick, set a plough, or ' pike ' hay, and they take a pride in their craft.
This talk will discuss their life and environment. Many hire themselves out, live in the farmhouse, and, being paid half-yearly and saving, become farmers thereby. And it will show something of their recreations, of hound trailing, of country dances, of occasional visits to Carlisle to see the pictures : to resume work next morning, with seagulls from the Solway getting their fill from the upturned soil.