Original subtitles

'It must seem that there was a war between farmers and their men,

'in them days.

'I think there was. Particularly in Suffolk.

'These employers were famous for their meanness.

'They took all they could from the men and boys who worked their land.

'They bought their life's strength for as little as they could.

'They wore us out without a thought

'because, with the big families, there was a continuous supply of labour.

'Seven young men left the village, at the beginning of 1914,

'to join the army.

'There weren't a recruitment drive on.

'The war hadn't started.

'They escaped.

'They just "changed their sky", as they say.

'And I was one of 'em.'

'I have a lot of my father's features.

'So have you.'

- Tom? - Robin!

'Although I ain't as tall as he was,

'I have his hands.

'Hands last a long time, you know.

'A village sees the same hands, century after century.

'That's a marvellous thing, but that's true.

Can you give us a hand?

- Have you got anymore to do today, then? - No, that's the only one.

- It's just through here. - What is it you want us to do?

Just lift the bier out.

It's a bit awkward.

If you can get the other end,

and push it through, as I lift it.

- Go steady... - It's ever so heavy so...

- Watch out for that... - Yeah.

Can you put it down now?

- Yeah. - That's it. Just rest it there.

'In my four months' training with the regiment,

'I put on nearly a stone in weight and got a bit taller.

'They said it was the food.

'But that was really because for the first time in my life,

'there'd been no strenuous work.

'I want to say this, simply as a fact:

'that village people in Suffolk, in my day, were worked to death.

'That's not just talk.

'That's what happened to me.'

Well its a bit bumpy but it's plenty long enough.

- Where you going now? - Up the bell tower.

Watch that bird shit.

Yeah, that'll do. Lovely.

I'm gonna put this muzzle on now.

'We arrived at the Dardanelles.

'First things we saw were big wrecked Turkish guns.

'The second: a big marquee.

'It didn't make me think of the military,

'but of the village fétes.

'Other people must've thought like this,

'cause I remember how we all rushed up to it,

'like boys getting into a circus,

'and then found it was laced up.

'We unlaced it and... rushed in.

'It was full of corpses.

'Dead Englishmen.

'Lines and lines of them, with their eyes wide open.

'I thought of Suffolk...

'and it seemed a happy place, for the first time.

Morning, Tom.

Morning, Tom.

- Morning. - Hello, Tom.

- Going home for breakfast? - Yes.

Come on!

'I belong to Suffolk.

'But I always thought of moving.

'Though, apart from the army, I've only left here once.

'Times were so bad, I thought I'd have a go at Newmarket.

'Newmarket was created by village boys

'who had a handy way with horses.

'They hoped the toffs would fancy 'em and put 'em in the racing stables.

'So, we walked there.

'Forty mile there...

'and forty mile back.

'I never got the job, you see.

What you so late for?

You're on the drag, this morning.

Tom...

- Said 'you're on the drag'. - Lot to do.

'Lot to do'. So have I.

Had your breakfast cooked half an hour ago.

It's nearly all dried up.

What's in the paper?

Why are you so late?

I said I've got a lot to do, haven't I? That ready?

I thought the guv'nor made it a little easier for you today.

Got the afternoon off.

I see that other old boy's dead, too,

who was in the Ipswich Hospital with him.

All right?

Bit hard, the bacon, isn't it?

You see what I'm doing, don't you?

Tom, do talk to me!

Have I got to wear that?

It's one of your grandfather's.

Get all dressed up...

You have a little respect.

He won't mind.

He's gone now, ain't he?

I expect that's the baker, now, with all the bread.

- Morning, Miss Rouse. - Morning, Mr Runnacles

Can I pay on Friday? So busy today, I don't know which way to turn.

- Yes. - Thank you.

- Bye. - Goodbye.

Thank Goodness, he remembered my cut loaves.

Got all the sandwiches to make.

Do you think guv'nor'll send a wreath?

- I expect he will. - Well, didn't he mention it?

I ain't seen him this morning.

Ought to have dropped a hint, during the week, didn't you?

- Busy... - Well, we're all busy.

I know what they'll do. They'll pick some flowers, out the garden, and send.

Them sort always do.

They're all right, while you're on the go.

But when you're dead and gone, that don't matter.

Forgot me tea?

Would it have hurt you to pour me one out today?

You're up, aren't you?

Wonder if Jean'll wait on you like this.

- Did you ask her to come? - She'll be here later on.

Gimme a hand.

She didn't say if her mother was coming, I suppose?

Don't speak with your mouth full!

If you talk to me when I'm eating, I've got to answer you, ain't I?

I'm going to sit down a minute.

My legs really ache, this morning.

Cor, I need that.

It'll be awful to see it going down the hill.

Still, the old Co-op will give him a good send-off. They always do.

I'll be on me best behaviour. Don't worry.

You know what people say...

"She's brought him up, all on her own,

"and he's grown up a scruffy little rascal."

It's all you worry about what people think, don't you?

Well, there'll be people looking at you.

I'm all right, aren't I?

Ain't worth worrying all the time, is it?

Don't do you any good, does it?

Pity he couldn't have stayed at home.

I'm sure he'd have been happier.

Well, I don't know. We looked after him as best as we could.

Any rate, I've been thinking.

What about that house for you and Jean?

I don't want to live around here. I want to get away.

Why?

I don't want to live in a tied house, anyway.

Front door and all.

- Good morning. - Mrs Rouse, is it?

I've just brought this wreath for you.

Oh, how lovely. Thank you ever so much.

- Goodbye. - Goodbye.

Tom!

Come here when I call!

- What is it? - Look at this lovely wreath.

It's from the guv'nor.

- Careful with it. - "In loving memory, dear Tom."

There's the back door now. I don't know if I'm coming or going.

- Hello, Fred. - How are you?

Oh, pretty miserable. I shall be glad when the day's over.

Got a nice big 'un there for you, this morning.

' Bye-bye. - Bye.

More old catalogues.

Ta.

I don't know, that look like old Reverend Wilkes' writing on there.

- Who's he, then? - You'll not remember him. He was...

Well, I... You were two when he left.

The poor old boy. Fancy him thinking of us.

Yes, it is.

"Dear Mrs Rouse,

"allow me to sympathise with your great loss.

"Tom. He will always be Tom,

"to my dear wife and myself.

"He was very much part of the backbone of old England

"and we shall all miss him.

"Fifty years on the same farm.

"Indeed, except for the call of duty, in 1914...

'I did sentry again, that night.

'It was "One, two, sentry. One, two, sentry",

'all along the trench.

'I knew the next sentry up quite well.

'I remembered him in Suffolk, singing to his horse as he ploughed.

'And now, he fell back, with a great scream

'and a look of surprise.

'Dead.

"'Well, that was quick, anyway", I thought.

'On June 4th, we went over the top.

'We found a great muddle.

'Carnage, and men without rifles, shouting, "Allah! Allah!",

'which is God's name in the Turkish language.

'And the 60 men I'd started out the war, from Harwich, with...

'There were only three left.'

Tom! I'm reading!

'I once even thought of going to Australia.

'But then I thought to myself,

"'Supposing you get out there and you don't like it?

"'Then what'll you do?"

'I always wanted to do a bit of farming on my own.

'I'd like to have owned something.

'Even if it was only a little smallholding where I could've kept pigs.

'Being on me own is a dream which I would've liked to come true.

'Don't you end up like me.'

- Ted, what have you bought here today? - Well, I've bought a few more crooks...

'Your father could've gone to the grammar school.

'But he never...

'Tom was always a clever boy,

'but I couldn't afford the extras.

'It wouldn't have done him much good, anyways, would it?

'All that schooling and he'd still have been dead in the war.

'This sudden journey to the battlefield was amazing.

'I had a gun and I understood that because of rabbiting.

'And I had a New Testament.

'That was handy for smoking, or for lavatory paper.

'I must've killed men. Yes, I got several.

'But the worse thing was the wet.'

'We set to work to bury people.

'We pushed them into the sides of the trench,

'but bits of 'em kept getting uncovered and sticking out.

'Like people in a badly-made bed.

'Hands were the worst.

'They would escape from the mud,

'pointing, begging...

'There was one which we all shook, when we passed,

'saying "Good morning" in a posh voice. Everybody did it.

'The bottom of the trench was springy like a mattress,

'because of all the bodies underneath.

'At night, the flies entered the trenches and lined them completely.

That was like a moving cloth.

'We were all lousy and we couldn't stop shitting because we caught dysentery.

'We wept, not because we were frightened,

'but because we were so dirty.'

- Morning, Tom. - Hello, Annie.

'I looked forward to leaving school, so that I could get educated.

'I knew that education was in books and not in school.

'There were no books there.

'I was a child when I left,

'but I already knew that our learning was rubbish,

'and our food was rubbish,

'and that I should end as rubbish, if I didn't look out.

Hello. What you doing here, then?

Just thought I'd come down this way for a change.

Just going back, are you?

Me mum wanted to know if you could come round and give her a hand.

You know, I probably won't finish until about twelve.

She's in a bit of a state and she kept going on and on and on.

- Never mind. - Miss Quantrill, give him a kiss.

- Run away, will you? - When are you going to marry her?

Go on. Off you go. Look, Miss Clarke's come.

Miss Clarke.

See you soon.

'People look to education now,

'in the same way as they once looked at religion.

"'Are you saved?" "Have you got your O Levels?"

'That's the same thing.

'Salvation.'

- Good morning, children. - Good morning, Mrs Quantrill.

Sit down.

Now, I want absolute silence, while I take the register, please.

- Andrew Stevens. - Present, ma'am.

- Albert Campbell. - Yes, ma'am.

- Richard Williamson. - Present, ma'am.

- Jack Brompton. - Present, ma'am.

James Wright...

James Wright?

'School was useless.

'The farmers came and took boys away from it, when they felt like it.

'The parson raided it for servants.

'The teacher was a respectable woman who did her best.'

Tom Rouse...?

- Tom Rouse... - Present, ma'am.

There's no need to make that noise.

Right. Let's have your hands folded, please.

Fred Woods.

- Frank. - Frank.

Luke Chapman. Rosalind Green.

- Kate Creasey. - Present, ma'am.

It's all right, Frank. Don't cry. It's all right.

- Laura Mower. - Present, ma'am.

Julia Grout.

Julia Grout..

Reuben Grout.

Amos Grout.

Where are they?

Where are the Grout family?

Come on. One of you knows.

- Andrew Stevens. - No. No idea.

Are you sure?

Come on, where are they?

I don't know.

What do you mean, you don't know?

You want to stay in the corner all day? Where are they?

- Stone picking, ma'am. - Stone picking.

I've had enough of this. I'm trying to run a school here

and every day, half my class is away, out working on the farms.

And I said sit quietly. Stop that!

All right, hands on your heads.

And no smirking, there, you.

Right.

'We were thrashed a lot, at school.

'Fathers would be ordered to the school to hold their sons

'while the mistress thrashed them.

'Most of the teachers were big thrashers.

'But we were tough. Mighty tough.'

Hands on your head, I said.

On your head!

That's better.

'Everybody said, "Don't! Don't!" to boys then.

'But after a while, we never listened.

'We were wondering how we could get away.'

Tom Rouse! Put your hands back on your head!

How dare you disobey me!

What do you think you're doing? Come out here!

Tom! Stop it! Tom! Stop it!

Tom, what do you think you're doing? Stop it!

Tom! Tom!

'That was hellfire and water, for a young boy, then, when he started work.

'The difference between a boy and a man, at work,

'is that although the boy is strong,

'he ain't got the kind of strength to allow him to keep up all day.

'It was this that the men used to mock, when I was young.

'No one liked being young then, as they do now.

'They wanted to get it over with.

'Everyone was out stone picking, all the time.

'The whole family had to do it.

'Otherwise, the man wouldn't have kept his job or his cottage.

'The wife had to pick up 24 bushels of stones a day.

'So, the children often had to help her.

'That were all of two shilling.

'Each parish had to mend its own lanes then.

'And the stones were used for this.

'Tumbril was put in the field

'and a line was chalked round it.

'When you filled it up to the line, you got the two shillings.

'We did it every minute we weren't at school.

'And often when we should've been at school.

- Morning, Mrs Grout. - Morning, boy.

'It was all I can remember.'

Where's the master? I want to get a job.

Better go and ask him, boy.

'The farmer was very tall.

'He stood looking down at me and smiling.

"'So, you're 13 and you've left school. What can you do?"

"'I can do anything."

"'Well, there's a Mangold field over there. You can do that."

"'What are you going to get?" asked my mother,

'when I told her.

"'Three bob a week," I replied.

'Mother said, "How lucky you are".'

'That was the beginning of being grown-up.'

Oi, Tom.

Come here a minute, boy.

What time is that this afternoon?

Well, it's three O'clock.

If you want anything else in the end you have to give it a day, like.

Didn't Mother tell ya?

Yeah, well you know what they am, them women when they get together.

My missus bloody pandemonium.

Yeah.

He weren't a bad old boy, though, was he?

- Nah, was one of the best. - He was funny at times.

Oh, he'd been a rum old cuss, in his time.

I remember that time when he had his old bad back.

He made me laugh. He got took short one day,

and he crawled into a ditch,

Well I was there as he came out hollering, "Jim!", and he was bloody bent over, you know.

He said, "I can't get up!" I thought his old back got him again.

Blast, if he hadn't done his braces up, to his fly button, you know.

You've got to laugh, ain't ya?

I'll be off. I've got a lot to do.

Yeah, I'll see you... see you later.

'We old men had heart.

'Cause we had damn all else.

'We'd fiddle about with some ditch,

'making such a rare fuss of it.

'We'd do the sugar-beeting. Perfectly.

'The worst damn job on the farm.

'Even if our fingers were half dropping off with the cold.

'That kept us from despair.

'You young men have efficiency.

'But I don't suppose efficiency's enough, either.

'The farmers have changed for the better, too.

'The hostility between the farmer and his men

'has either disappeared, or is on the way out.

'That definitely is.

'The farmer and the young workers are closer together.'

Morning, Tom.

How are you? You all right?

Is it all right if I get away early, this morning?

Yes, that'll be all right. I can... I can look after the animals.

Do you reckon you'll be there, this afternoon?

- I hope to be there, yes. - Yeah?

It's at three o'clock, the church.

Well, er... you won't really want to come back, will you?

Well, it's up to you. If you reckon you can manage.

I know you've got a lot on and that.

Yes, well, I think I can manage to come.

Yeah, well, we've got this...

this sheep dipping..-

Because he was like a father to me, really. Me not having a father, myself.

Oh, well...

Poor old boy's gone.

I shall miss him.

I'm sorry for this.

Sorry, Tom. I'm sorry.

Of course, the old chap had his faults, didn't he?

- But we all have our faults, don't us? - Yeah.

If it was all written in the face, we should look bloody ugly!

That's right.

You thought you were gonna miss it, didn't you?

I know one time 0' day, he walked to Newmarket,

to get a job in the stables.

Of course, he...

tried two or three places, but he couldn't get a job.

He walked all the way to Newmarket and walked all the way back.

It was forty mile there and forty mile back.

Out! Out!

Get out!

They wanted me to join the army.

'Cause when... they was...

18, one 19,

I was only 17, so...

I didn't go with 'em, but they went all over the world.

India...

Hong Kong...

Singapore and Shanghai...

- Oh, and India... - Would you like to have gone?

Well, I would've done, but I don't know.

I like this old country best. Suffolk.

The old roots are deep, deep, then, are the boy?

Yeah, I like old Suffolk. I don't think you can beat it, do you?

Oh, I don't think so. I think there's worse places about. Don't you?

Yes. Of course there is.

Deserts and all that. You don't want to go there, do you?

Hey!

Yeah! Thought you were drowning, eh?

- That way, mate! - What are you doing, Charlie?

'The shepherd castrated the male lambs,

'the little tups, about an hour after they'd been born.

'They say that what you never had, you never miss. I wonder...

'The tails used to be cut off with a hot iron,

'and balls nicked out with a shepherd's teeth.

'We ate well that day.

'Well, the tups went a bit behind, after they'd been castrated.

'They got thin. Pulled 'em down.

'That's a surprising thing to happen to anyone who's just come into the world,

'on a spring morning.'

I hear you're getting married, aren't you?

Well, boy...

if there's anything better in this world, then I never had it.

Come on here, you... You'll go to heaven one day.

Please, be seated.

Let us pray.

Now will you please stand?

According to the scripture,

they went down, both of them, together, into the water.

My sister, Jean Quantrill,

do you, in your baptism, affirm that the Lord Jesus Christ

is Lord and Saviour?

I do.

I have come here, today, to be baptised.

To prove my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

On this, the confession of your faith, my sister,

I now solemnly baptise you

into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

'Suffolk used to worship Sunday, not God.

'I dunno why they went to all this trouble.

'Anybody with a mite of common sense could see how useless it was.

'Chapel, chapel, chapel.

'Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

'Best suits.

'There were these Baptists.

'What were they trying to do?

'There were so many of them, they could've set the whole village on its ear,

'had they followed Jesus.

'But all you heard them say was "Sunday".'

Welcome to the chapel, Jean.

'Bugger Sunday, I say, and praise God when you can.

Hey, hey...!

Hey! Hey, hey, hey!

'There's one or two things I'd like to talk to you about.'

Like what's to happen, after the funeral and that.

- I shall miss the old boy. - He's one of the older generation.

What he done, he done well.

He won't leave a job to do and go home at five.

If it was needing done, he used to stop and do it.

He started to work here, I think, when he was 12.

I think he ran off from school, and he was kept on the farm, all the time, ever since.

I suppose the family needed the money. There weren't a lot about, then.

- Well, they did. - Lot of mouths to feed.

Weren't any family allowances in them days.

Or any other allowances, I don't think. Only work.

- The old garden's growing up, now. - Yes.

- Looks like a wilderness, doesn't it? - Yes... My grandfather...

if he'd have seen that... it would've upset him, I reckon.

It's not a very nice day to be talking about these things, with his funeral coming on.

Would, erm...

Maybe... erm... you'd like something done...

or Jean and you would like something done for this house.

Erm... to get it modernised.

Yeah...

You look nice.

- How are you getting on, Auntie? All right? - Yes, thanks, yes.

Wish you'd put that on more often.

You look nice and smart.

See now, us waiting...

Thought I heard a car, but...

Sorry to keep reaching in front of you.

It's all right, dear.

Hello.

Hello...

- How are you? - Oh, not too bad.

- Things all right? - Been quite a while now...

No, I suppose. That's the time we meet.

Yes, that's the awful part of it, really, isn't it?

It won't be long now, shan't it?

I am pleased there's some lovely flowers.

- He was fond of his garden, weren't he? - Yeah.

It always feel cold, whatever time of the year, doesn't it,

when you go to a funeral.

- Yeah, you've got your coat. - That's right.

- You never know if you might want it. - No, no...

What do you think, Ted, about the old guv'nor?

- Letting Tom home, then... - Well, I don't think that were his fault.

I think he had somebody come out here and call him away...

Do you think he'll come to church?

It'll all depends what he's got on.

If he can sort something out, I expect he will.

- Jean'll be coming. - I'd think so. Out of respect.

After working on that farm all those years.

- What did he say, Tom? - He said he'd be coming.

They're coming.

It's very likely now. I'll put the light out...

There's an awful lot of stuff here. Make sure the old cat don't get at it.

That'll have anything.

- Alright Charlie? - Yes, I'm alright.

He used to be so fond, Tom, of this village.

Well, you see, he was born here and went to school here...

and got wed here.

This is his real native place.

What would he say, with all this building going up, Aunt Ida?

Ooh, I don't know what he would say.

- Village is changing, ain't it? - Yes, it has, yes.

He'd wonder why some of the poor old cottages had been knocked down.

Course, it's only right, I think.

It's progress.

Course, he got an idea into his head, my brother,

that he'd like to get a job at Newmarket.

So, of course, off he went. And a long way he had to go, too.

He came back, after two or three days.

Can't you stop a little while, Aunt Ida? You keep on the go all the time.

Well, all these memories, Dulcie, keep flooding back to me.

- Yeah, well... - I'm sorry, but...

Yeah, well, let's save them till we get back from the church.

- She's all right. - Well, I can't take them all, Tom.

You keep chiming in, starting her off. Can't you keep quiet a little while?

I used to love them coloured eggs...

that our Sunday-school teacher used to boil up for us.

For Easter Sunday. All different colours. Purple... yellow... blue... green...

How did she get 'em all coloured, then?

She used to... boil something up in the water, I think.

They say if you put onion skins in they turn them yellow and green.

Don't know how true it is, but...

Howsoever, we all went off with one,

Easter Sunday morning, soon as we'd been to Sunday school.

We used to love to go to the village shop.

That was less than five minutes away.

We were ever so pleased if we got a farthing or a ha'penny.

It's a pity he didn't look after his money a bit more, then.

- In later years. - Didn't he?

You all right, Auntie?

I think he had a little bit put away, don't you?

I think he did, although he never told me.

Well, I never found much when I cleared up.

No, I don't suppose so.

Looking round for his money. Ain't no good in that, is there?

I weren't looking for his money, Tom. Now, don't be like that.

That's the last thing I was looking for.

You reckon he spent it all? Good job.

That's the only time he ever left the village,

is when he went to the 1914-1918 war.

And he was away until 1919.

And many an adventure he had.

A narrow escape. But he didn't get wounded or anything,

which was a blessing.

All day, all day. Yack, yack, yack.

She's all right.

Grandad used to be just the same.

You start him off, he'd carry on,

morn 'till night.

Thank goodness you didn't get that habit from him.

Well, you make up for me.

That's where he did his courting.

- What, at the rectory? - That's where Charlotte was in service.

She was a lovely girl.

With long, fair hair, a beautiful complexion, and blue eyes.

Tom used to slip round there. He wouldn't always be about, the vicar.

Yes...

"I know that my Redeemer liveth

"and that he shall stand at the latter day, upon the earth.

"And though after my skin, worms destroy this body,

"yet in my flesh shall I seek God,

"whom I shall see for myself

"and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.

"We brought nothing into this world

"and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

"The Lord gave

"and the Lord hath taken away.

"For man walketh in a vain shadow

"and disquieteth himself in vain.

"He heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them.

"And now, Lord..."

'I never did no planning, all me life.

'There was nothing in my childhood. Only work.

'I never had pleasure.

'But I've forgotten one thing.

'The singing.

'One day a year, we all went to Southwold,

'along with the women and children.

'It was such a lot of singing in the villages, then.

'Boys sang in the fields, and at nights,

'we all met at the forge and sang.

'Chapels and churches were full of singing.

'When the first war come, there was singing, singing, singing, all the time.

'So, I lie. I have had pleasure. I've had singing.'

"I held my tongue... and spake nothing.

"I kept silence, yea, even from good words.

"But it was pain and grief to me.

"My heart was hot within me

"and while I was thus musing, the fire kindled,

"and at the last, I spake with my tongue:

"'Lord, let me know mine end

"'and the number of my days,

"'that I may be certified how long I have to live.

"'For a thousand years, in thy sight, are but as yesterday.

"'Thou makest His beauty to consume away.

"Like as it were a moth fretting a garment.

'"Every man, therefore, is but vanity.

"'Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live

"'and is full of misery.

"'He cometh up and is cut down, like a flower.

"'He fleeth as it were a shadow,

"'and never continueth in one stay.

"'In the midst of life..."'

'You be careful of the guv'nor.

'Farmers still aren't used to their men being free.

'I know he gives you little things.

'Petrol for your motorbike, things like that.

'And one day, he'll give you a cottage.

'But he wants more than your work.

'He wants you to be beholden to him in some way.

'Just like the old days.

'He wants you to throw your life into his farm.

'He wants to own you.

♪ The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended

♪ The darkness falls at Thy behest

♪ To Thee our morning hymns ascended

♪ Thy praise shall sanctify our rest

♪ As o'er each continent and island

♪ The dawn leads on another day

♪ The voice of prayer is never silent

♪ Nor dies the strain of praise away

♪ The sun that bids us rest is waking

♪ Our brethren 'neath the western sky

♪ And hour by hour, fresh lips are making

♪ Thy wondrous doings heard on high

♪ So be it, Lord; Thy throne shall never

♪ Like earth's proud empires, pass away

♪ Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever

♪ Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway

♪ A-men A'

Mrs Quantrill...

- Keeping well? - Yes, thanks.

- Everything all right? - Yes, thank you.

- Hello Jim, How are you? - Oh, not too bad.

We best get this cut down soon.

- See you later. - Such a lovely hymn.

- Beautiful, yes.. - Lovely day for it, too.

Yes, indeed. Goodbye.

'You might leave, I suppose.

'I know you like it well enough, but I'm thinking of your future, you see.

'You work for a farmer, and one day, he'll make you his farm foreman.

'What's that?

'You young men are beginning to realise that farming has no future for you.

'You aren't a farmer's son. You won't inherit.'

They make such a nice couple, don't they?

I think, perhaps, this time, you know...

there will be a wedding following a funeral.

Who wants another cup of tea?

Top me up, could you, Mrs Rouse?

Well, I don't know which is your cup, now.

'We were healthy, strong children, but small.

'One of our great desires was to have cake.

'Nearly all our food was boiled,

'on account of there being no oven in most of the cottages.

'A treat was any party where you could eat cake.'

Did you know I was with Charlotte, in service at the rectory?

She's a lovely girl. Very pretty.

With long, blond hair.

- Were you really? - Yes.

- That's going back a few years! - We didn't have much wages,

but we were very happy there.

The rector and his wife were very kind to us.

- Get the old file out. - Yes.

Sharpen me teeth up.

Do you remember, Charlie, what lovely summers we had,

before the last World War?

- Yes, I do. - Not the last World War. The first one.

How beautifully hot it was in July and August?

And they used to get the harvest, sometimes, finished in about three weeks.

Depending on the weather.

I used to love to see the horses, and the binders going round.

'We always sang, as we worked through the corn.

'All the men and the boys.

'You ask me what the song was.

'I didn't mind the song.

'It was the singing that counted.

'A poacher is nearly always just a farm labourer

'who simply had to go out and get a bird or a rabbit for the family dinner.

'Your father once said to me, when he was a boy,

"'Father,

"'if you take into account what the Good Book say,

"'that every beast on this earth is for the good of mankind,

"'why should Colonel Hawtrey have the bloody lot?"'

Would you like something a little stronger than tea?

Jean, what about you? Would you like something a little stronger?

Dandelion? Elderflower? Parsnip? Ginger?

There you see, look.

You can see the three generations.

- That's... Old Tom. - Old Tom.

- That's Dulcie's Tom. - Oh, Dulcie's Tom. This is the boy Tom.

And that's the boy Tom.

The dark hair...

- ...dark eyes... - Yes.

Let's hope, anyhow, that this young Tom

doesn't have to go and... fight in a war.

We met at a dance. It was 1943.

Course they say, it was love at first sight.

I remember that dance as if it was yesterday.

You know what us girls were. Anybody in uniform, we were after 'em.

♪ Please say hello

♪ To the folks that I know

♪ Tell them I won't be long

♪ There'll be... ♪

What are you gonna do when you go back then, you off again?

Do some fighting, I reckon.

Oh, what do think of that?

Well, I ain't never killed nobody before.

I reckon you'll have a bloody chance now.

You look after number one, boy, that's what they tell me.

You'll get home again, boy. You'll soon be home.

What do you keep garping about, there?

Oh blast, I can see.

Well, I'll tell you what. She looks like a bit of all right, to me.

You know I thought you'd be looking at her.

I'll come over and do the damn talk and you can do the action.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have a little change.

A Ladies' excuse-me.

Don't forget the blackout!

"'Broomstick regiment', they called us.

'Dropping them old bombs about...'

'Night and day. Boom-boom-boom...'

- Oh... - Are you all right, Dulcie?

Yeah, I'm fine.

- You're sure? - Yeah.

Goodnight.

Of course, you know what happened then.

Killed and... l never did see him no more.

Of course, I was left with young Tom.

Still, you've got the boy and that's a blessing.

Yes, that's true.

If it hadn't been for the boy, you might've married again.

He won a scholarship at the grammar, you know,

but his mother couldn't afford to let him go, on account of the extras.

- I didn't know that. - Yes.

- He never mentioned that to me. - There was a lot you didn't know.

It's a bit late now.

Well, we got married in a hurry.

Yes, I know you did.

Cliff, I was telling them a tale, the other day, about old Tom,

that I was told old Charlie this morning.

Couldn't you wait a bit, before you changed?

I've got to get back to work, haven't I?

Couldn't somebody else have done that today?

We were up the old field, and he got took short...

He asked me to go back.

- Oh, good Lord. - Won't be long.

Come, on Granny. It's time you thought about going home.

I don't want to, Frances. I want to stop a little longer with my friends and relations.

...l said well you bloody old fool, you've done up your braces to your fly buttons!

Jim...

Jim, be quiet.

- They can't hear. - You're shouting at people here,

- Jean's mother's here... - They can't hear. They're on about something.

Never mind, Jim. That's all right. That was a good old laugh.

Funny thing I should be here at this funeral, today.

I remember Tom laughing one day, till he went to a funeral,

and when they went to have a cup of tea, like we are having now,

he said, "Now, what sort of husband was he?"

"Oh," she said, "one of the best. You couldn't wish for a better one".

She said, "We used to lie in bed, Sunday mornings,

"and hear the church bells ringing.

"We used to go up with the ding and come down with the dong."

And she'd say, "If it hadn't have been for that fire engine going by,

"at the bloody time, he'd have been alive now."

He ought to know better than to tell them stories like this.

Yes, he do, really, doesn't he?

Still, I don't suppose Tom would really mind.

No, he's got no harm in it.

And, er... did I ever tell you about, er...

Tom and Charlotte, that they got married quietly?

No.

He went out of the harvest field, one lovely July day,

and we missed him, and we missed Charlotte.

You know, I used to be in service with her, at the rectory.

She was a lovely girl. Tall...

She don't half go on. Honestly, all those stories.

You get them time after time.

Well, we missed them, out of the harvest field.

Couldn't make out where they'd gone.

And after a little bit, they came back with the parson.

They were all smiling.

So, the parson said, "Mr and Mrs Tom Rouse.

"I've just married them."

Oh, how astonished we all were.

So, we wished them the best of luck, and, of course,

you know that little cottage they got,

where the poor old widow lady, she'd passed away,

and that was empty.

Well, then, you'll remember they went in there,

and they were very happy, and I was very happy for them.

'I don't want to see old days back.

'Every bad thing gets to seem pleasant enough, when time's passed.

'But it weren't pleasant then. That's a fact.

'We had depressing jobs which lasted so long.

'Made life seem worthless.

'Now, you just sit on the harvester.

'Lot of the tough slogging on the farm ain't really necessary no more,

'but you won't stop it.

'That's an East Anglian thing.

'We used to be proud of how we did a task.

'Now they're proud of how much they can shift in a day.

'You can't blame 'em.

'The farmers don't want quality work no more.

'They want young men who will stay with their tractors until the moon is up.'

How's that, then?

I think the guv'nor'll be pleased, don't you?

No, no. I'm not going up there. I'm a married woman.

What are we going to do about the lady then Cliff?

I wonder who the lady is going to be?

Good old boy, eh?

'The lady sat atop of the load to leave the field.

'Afterwards, we all went shooting home.

'Shouting in the empty old fields.

"'Largesse!"

'I don't know why. That's what we did.

"'Largesse!"

'We'd shout so loud that the boys in the next village'd shout back.'

Largesse!

'Stacking was the next job. Then threshing.

'It was always reckoned you had to thrash or stack in a day.

'But there weren't no rest after the harvest.

'The year begun again, you see.'

...because we can't find fault with the tractors.

They'll do as much now after tea, as we used to do in a day.

Largesse!

Largesse!

Largesse!

Largesse!

Largesse!

- Largesse! - Largesse!

Largesse!

Largesse!

Rather forgetting themselves...

Largesse! Largesse! Largesse...

Yes, yes. And then I think they made up their mind in a hurry.

- Perhaps someone else took... - Yes, it might've been taken.

Home, then...

- You look tired. - Yeah, I am.

Let's go upstairs, then.

Largesse!

Largesse!

Largesse!

Well I expect that's what's wrong...

You wouldn't alter him would you?

He new what he wanted to do and you wouldn't alter him.

You've got to remember sometimes Tom might think about his own father.

Yes, yes...

'There's such a lot of machinery used in farming now.

'The men are going down, down, down on the farms,

'and the machines, up, up, up.

'What men are left have got to be real good.

'Different from what they used to be.

'We wore our bodies to death.

'You only wear out a few machines.

'To be perched on the top of a 130-horsepower tractor,

'is to be perched on the top of your dream.

- Sure he didn't mention it? - Not a word.

- Well, when did it come? - I saw it on the bed, this morning.

When I went and put his clothes out.

You don't know anything about it?

No. I was hoping you'd tell me something about it.

No. He's never said a word to me.

- Ls he going, then? - Well, l... don't dare point to it.

I can't make it out at all. No wonder he's been quiet all week.

I knew there was something on his mind.

What's all this about, then?

Tom...

I'm sorry...

- What's the matter? - It's all right. I'm sorry...

I'm just being silly, that's all. It's all right.

I'm sorry. I just didn't know. I...

...about you going and everything.

- Well... do you want me to come with you? - Course I do.

When do you think about going?

I don't know, really.

I got all the things. You know, all the leaflets.

I wish you'd told me first, Tom.

I would've done, but I... l... You know...

I tried to several times, but I just didn't get round to it.

I would've told you, if me mum hadn't.

She shouldn't have been poking her nose in, really.

I don't know what'll happen to her. I worry sometimes, really.

If I don't go, I shall regret it all my life. I know that.

I'll just end up like me grandad.

He tried to get away, poor old bloke, but... he just ended up the same.

Just a load of memories.

You know, I just don't want to end up like that. I want to get away.

You know, years ago, they used to go in the army.

At least they used to get away for a couple of years.

You don't even have to do national service today.

It's just... Well, it's a bit of a shock.

You'll soon make friends and that.

Staying round here and ending up, you know, like Grandad...

He'd got nothing here, had he?

He'd got his friends, hadn't he?

Yeah, well, you can make friends there.

I'm not going. I'm not going.

'You had to learn never to answer a word.

'You doesn't say nothing.

'We feared so much.

'We even feared the weather.

'Today a farmer must pay for the week,

'whatever the weather.

'But we were always being sent home.

'We dreaded the rain

'that washed our few shillings away.'

You'd best be off home together, then.

Home!

You'll get nothing done today.

It's set in for the day, I reckon.

Damn, we lost a day-and-a-half last week.

Summer's coming.

It's like a damn well woman.

...this bloody weather...

'We had to close down our union branch

'because nobody could afford to pay the fourpence a week membership fee.

'I remember the week this happened.

'I drew 15/6 from the farmer

'and after I'd given my wife 12 shilling,

'paid my union fourpence and me rent, three and a penny,

'I had a penny left.

'So I threw it across the field.

'I'd worked hard. Penny was what a child had.

'I weren't having that.

'I'd sooner have nothing.

What you lazy devils doing in here now?

You wouldn't be out there in the wet if you ain't going to get paid, would you?

I think you lazy buggers ought to get out and get to work

otherwise you'll soon think this is a convalescence home!

'It took a brave man to show his politics, in Suffolk.

'If you weren't a Tory, you were a troublemaker.'

How much does he pay you?

When you work you don't get a damn sight and damn sure thing now he's sent us home, we shan't.

They want money for nothing, work for nothing, don't they?

Tight old bugger...

I don't suspect he's very wet, do you? He's got a bloody good suit on...

'We took our corners naturally.

'We knew within a little what we were going to get,

'and there would never be no more.

'We ought to be thankful to be as we are today.

'Whatever would our poor old mothers and fathers have thought of it,

'if they could see all the money we get now?

'We know that it don't go far, but... we touch it.

'Your gran went many year ago.

'She were a good sort, yer gran.

'I could read to her from the paper, of an evening.

'But as for writing, I could just about sign me name for me money.

'She did all the writing.

'We were often hard up, but we ate well.

'Your gran made her own bread

'and there was something cooked every day, no matter how broke we were.

'Today, they make a dinner out of nothing.

'You can hear the paper packs being torn open

'and, then, in five minutes, there's dinner.

'I don't call that dinner.'

You owe me a shilling, you only gave me eleven this week.

- It's all I've got. - It's all we got?

I was off a bob this week.

- He can't do that. - Can't do nothing about it.

- If you don't ask... - Get the sack.

We can't just lose a shilling every week.

A shilling's a lot of money.

It's no good, we've got one of these,

I mean, chances are we'll have more.

Everybody else is the same round here.

You'll have to ask him. If not, you'll have to change your job.

Get another job.

I've got a good job, with the horses.

Best job on the farm.

It's no good, though. All the farms are going down, aren't they?

- Things might get better. - What's wrong with going to Newmarket?

There's lots of horses there.

- It's miles away! - We could live there.

Hm, you don't know what people are like, out that way, do you?

Well, they don't know what we're like, here, do they?

Well, my brother went to Canada. He got a good job there.

You don't know, that's just heresay, isn't it?

- Well, you could work on the railway. - That ain't work, is it?

All you talk about is the damn railway.

They seem to be doing all right from it.

Why don't you go in the fields and do some work, like the other women?

I'm not taking him in the fields.

For God's sake, do something!

You sit there doing nothing, forever.

You can't even make a horse move, can you?

What do you mean?

- Do you say "Please..."? - I don't know what's got into you.

- Do you say "Please move"? - "Please move"?

- To the horse. - They just move.

They know who's master when I'm with them, don't they?

- Who is? The horse? - I am!

_ Are you? _ Yes!

You're just like my father. Sat there hunched up like him.

Like an old man.

Still a young man, aren't I?

Well, why don't you get out and do something, then?

- You keep bloody well moaning... - Don't you swear in here, on Sundays.

- I want you to say you're sorry for that. - Hm. I don't know if I will.

Don't it mean anything to you, swearing on a Sunday?

I don't see the Lord's done anything for us.

- Yes, he has. He provides. - Hm. I ain't seen anything.

- I want you to say sorry for that. - I ain't gonna bloody well apologise.

- Yes, you are. Say you're sorry! - I'm not going to!

Say you're Sorry!

'The women never lost their independence, during the bad days,

'as the men did.

'We men were beaten,

'cause the farms took every inch of our physical strength

'and left us with nothing.

'It was the farm against our bodies.

'And the farm always won.

'The farms used to swallow up men, as they swallowed up muck.

'There's a lot of beaten men in the Suffolk villages.

'And some of these men are surprisingly young.

'You don't find women in this condition.

'No matter how hard their lives have been.

'Looking back on my life,

'I can't ever recall ever making a decision.

'Except the once.

'When I walked to Newmarket.

'Otherwise, one thing just leads to another.

What time you off in the morning, then?

About half past six.

- You give us a lift? - Yeah, I'm going Ipswich way.

Oh, just give us a lift to the station. That'll be all right.

- What are you doing here? - Come and sit down, then.

Have you been out with the lads?

Yeah, I just had a wander round. Stopped in the pub and had a couple.

We looked for you when we went by the cottage. We couldn't see you.

Well, I didn't go round that way.

We were just saying, there's a lot to be done up there.

I don't think he ever cleaned it, did he?

Oh, yeah. He cleaned it, in his way. But he didn't like things interfered with.

Like, you see, poor old Gran. She used to have them just so

and I think he liked to have the memory of how she had them.

I brought something back.

It's lovely, isn't it?

It can tell some tales, too.

He went swimming.

There was a whole lot of boys.

'You know what it was, in them days.

'You didn't have no bathing huts or anything.

- 'You used to undress beside the bank. - 'Yes.

'Put your clothes down. Of course, he used to treasure this watch.

'That was, ooh...

'Nobody must look at it or hold it, you know. It was his.

'He hid it up. In his old boot.'

Put that watch back.

No...

- You come and get it. - Put it back in the boot!

- Put it back! - You come and get it. Come on...

Just you wait!

'I think she thought, "Well, he'll never come out after me", but...

'However, he did. He chased this girl, you know, down the bank

and it was dark before he got back, to get his clothes.

- Who was the girl, then? - That was your gran.

God...

The old ladies used to say, "He's like his old watch.

"He's all right, once he's wound up."

How about Aunt Ida? I think she enjoyed herself, at the finish, don't you?

She's terrible. I think she was right tipsy, when she went, wasn't she?

She was staggering around, out there.

She's really fond of you, you know.

She said to me, when you come in the kitchen, she said,

"Oh, I got some nice things will do for her bottom drawer, dear."

I got a lot of bed linen you could have, Jean, to make a start...

It's probably a good idea Aunt Ida was drunk...

If she'd have heard some of those jokes...

It'd be so nice to see that house all redecorated

after all them gloomy old colours.

Still, you'll be able to do that definitely there.

Is that, er... is that watch silver?

- Well, I think so. - Yeah?

I told you about the little cot that I found in the back bedroom.

Yeah...

It must be worth a bit, then. If it is real silver.

Do you know, you can buy ever such pretty muslin. It could all be lined out.

I know I'm thinking ahead, but still, it's nice to think...

'In the old days, son followed father.

'One or two broke away, but it didn't seem a natural thing to do.

'They used to say that farmworking was bad pay, but a good life.

'But there weren't all that much difference in pay

'between the farmworker and the bricklayer.

'Not like now.

'So now, everybody's leaving.

'They don't want the farms no more.

'They don't want to be beholden to the farmer.

'Men like myself, who follow our fathers' footsteps,

'we're a finished race.

'Boys today won't take their fathers' footsteps.

'That's exactly where they refuse to tread.'

- Going Ipswich station? - I already told you I am.

Where you going from there, then?

Up to London. Why you asking all these questions?

Just curious.

I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just going to go up to London.

Does Jean know, then?

Well, not... Sort of, I suppose.

In other words, you haven't told her.

- Well, not really. - Oh...

Does nobody know?

I suppose you're the only one know I'm going, really.

- There's Old Dinger. - Yeah.

What are you doing, Old Dinger?

- What are you doing there? - What are you doing!?

You look as though you're killing that hedge.

You want to out if off, look. Silly old bugger.

Go ahead! Cut it off.

Cut it off, you silly old bugger.

Cut if off!

Poor old sod.

'Course, he got an idea into his head, my brother,

'that he'd like to get a job at Newmarket.

'He told me he walked to Newmarket, to get a job. Poor old boy.

'...to Newmarket. He wanted to get a job in the stables.

'Times were so bad, I thought I'd have a go at Newmarket.

'Newmarket was created by village boys

'who had a handy way with horses.

'They hoped the toffs would fancy 'em and put 'em in the racing stables.

'So we walked there.

'Forty mile there...

'and forty mile back.'

- 'Well, they hadn't got a vacancy. - 'Walked all the way

and then never got it and walked back.

'He walked the whole way. It was forty mile there and forty mile back.

'I never got the job, you see.'

"'Fancy leaving the village!" they said.

"'Whatever next?"

'But I would've gone, if I could.

'Several did.

'Who would I have been, if I hadn't footed it back home?'