On July 20th 1914, my grandfather started harvesting winter oats. He employed 23 men on the farm and most work was done by hand. It took a week to cut and cart 60 acres of oats. By the end of 1918 three of those men lay in unknown graves in Northern France.
Today we are starting our harvest 100 years later. By the end of today, three of us should have cut and carted to store 52 acres worth of oats.
Maurice Barnes, aged 34, died 23rd April 1917
Albert Presland, aged 23, died 12th March 1915
Harry Hollingsworth, aged 28, died 3rd August 1916
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We shall remember them.
© Baldock Bard 2014
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