| Helping with the hay |
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Drawing
by
Rob Davies |
One of the
most common reasons for Victorian children being away from school in country
districts was helping out with seasonal jobs
on the farm. Summer haymaking usually took away the largest number, and most country schools tried to arrange the summer break, often called the 'harvest holidays', to suit this work on the farms. The entry below was made in the Log Book of Llanganten Board School in August 1880, just before the holidays - |
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13th
August
1880 |
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Powys
County Archives
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August 13th - "The attendance this week has been low, several children being away from school, helping with the hay". Llandewi'r Cwm School reopened at the end of August 1892 after the holiday, when there were "Not any children present" !
In Victorian times some farm jobs needed large numbers of people, including
children, to help. Today, huge machines used on the farms can do the same
work in a fraction of the time.
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RDR
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