Original subtitles

first on BBC 2 and the BBC HD channel as

the war deepens times get tougher on the

farm the Great British Countryside

setting for one of the most pivotal

battles of the second world

war Churchill called it the front line

of

Freedom it was fought by the farmers of

[Music]

Britain when war broke out the Nazis

attacked British shipping attempting to

cut off food

[Music]

imports the government turned to Farmers

to double homegrown food production the

plow really had become a weapon of

War if they failed the nation could be

starved into

[Music]

surrender now archaeologists Alex

angland and Peter gin and historian Ruth

Goodman are turning back the

clock working Mana Farm in Hampshire as

it would have been during the second

world

[Music]

war by

1943 Britain was at breaking point in

the first few months of the year there

were record losses at Sea depleting

Imports more than

ever although the German Army had been

defeated at Stalingrad ultimate victory

was not yet in sight after four years of

war Britain's farmers were

exhausted so the team resort to new

sources of Labor so we're going to need

a lot more than that aren we oh yeah

scavenge crops from every scrap of

wasteland that is absolutely lethal and

find innovative ways to clothe

themselves as resources are stretched to

the limit on the wartime

[Music]

Farm 1943 saw Imports of food slumped to

the lowest level of the war and the

government feared a crisis

victory in lamain created access to

supplies of petrol to help the

continuing

offensive but with more ships given over

to military use there were fewer to

bring food to

[Music]

Britain at home the government demanded

that an extra 1 million tons of cereals

be

produced but arable land was becoming

tired from years of consecutive

use there was a large excess of straw on

the farm a byproduct of all the cereal

crops being grown Ruth's using this to

make a fertilizer of course if we had a

surplus of barley straw we could use

that for animal feed but wheat

straw really isn't much use so all this

spare straw I'm just adding to the dung

Heap to help it rot down if I didn't

have any dung at all it wouldn't rot and

we'd have to add ammonia or lime or

something like that to sort of speed it

up but with a little bit of D mix it all

together eventually you get something

spreadable on the

fields with Harvest approaching I think

we're perhaps paying a little bit more

attention to the dung Heap than we were

before we know that as soon as that crop

is in we've got to get this lot back out

on the fields to fertilize and to start

that cycle of production all over again

[Music]

Alex and Peter have also found a use for

the spare

straw the Harvest is on the horizon but

Mana Farm has a significant rodent

problem before the war rats cost British

Farmers an estimated 25 million a year

in damage eating crops and destroying

buildings so the boys are determined to

stamp them out before the precious wheat

is brought

in but they going to need a little

help now we've got a rat catcher in

Residence she's coming down for a week

or so serving our farms and all the

other farms in the area so we have very

chalous Peter haven't we decided to give

up our room we have Bing was at an

all-time high with land girl numbers

reaching a peak of almost

990,000 so farmers needed to create

accommodation wherever and with whatever

they

could one of the things we've got a

surplus of on the farm at the moment is

straw so all of this stuff is just

knocking around the farm we're going to

use to build ourselves a little straw

baale house to sleep in for the next

week or so now you keep counting the

Bales Henry all right so I think we door

here just running around of the path

yeah you right y straw buildings were

not uncommon during the war and were

also used to house tools or even

livestock B straw is absolutely super

herb for using as a construction

material because You' got really good

sturdy blocks here you know this is all

locking in

beautifully and its main benefit really

is that it's just so fantastic at

insulation you know there's no doubt

about it this is going to keep the wind

and the wet out of this sheltered area

it's going to pop on the end here

[Music]

think it's big enough I think this app's

going to be absolutely fine Peter it's

certainly long enough oh yeah I'll get

down there plenty of room there oh hello

Henry we're missing something Peter I

can see the sky Alex well if we put a

roof on it which we have to a couple of

beds picture of

King bedside table home from home

Yeah by 1943 there was a real concern

that stamina was running out Britain's

Farmers had already been asked to give

everything and now they were being asked

to give even

more people had endured four years of

war they had watched everything get

worse and worse and harder and

harder rationing had started out

reasonably okay and got Tighter and

Tighter clothes rationing food rationing

petrol rationing everything rationing

and while the early days of the war

there was perhaps a sense of adrenaline

with the Blitz and so forth by 1943

people had been slogging for so long I

think for many people there was just an

exhaustion a weariness oh God will it

ever be over

Vera Lynn's song when the lights go on

again was popular in 1943 and

encapsulated the mood of the

nation go on

again listen to verin somehow she just

had an Knack didn't she of summing up

how everybody felt wait till the likes

go on again a sort of desperate longing

for it all to be over for us you know

finally to get there goodness knows

we've been fighting long enough

things like this that give you a little

sort of lift you know I think they must

have been deeply important by

1943 all

over the

[Music]

world so we've got our walls up um but

there's been a slight change of plan um

we were we were sort of halfway through

the roof when we thought actually we're

doing oursel a disservice if we don't

include as an extra architectural

feature a window which I've managed to

salvage that looks really good let's

have a proper lookit

Cosmetics that's good it looks made to

measure excellent right let's get this

roof

on while Peter builds the roof's wooden

frame Alex turns his mind to the best

mat material for wartime

thatching I'm just hand pulling Nettles

here because it's going to be one of the

plants that we use for our

thatch perfect time a year to pull them

as well because they've got all their

energy in the plant so the plants very

strong and the root is weak so when you

give it a tug what happens just comes

away at the root every time you throw

that up Alex I get a constant shower of

mud coming down on

me the thing with Nettles is they can

sting but if you get stuck into them

show them who boss tend not to hurt as

much now I'm using what's called a Gad

to

secure the thatch to the roof a Gad is a

thin strip of wood the Nettles rest on

the battern of the roof and the Gad lies

on top of them pinning them into place

you know in the early 20th century there

were still thatch

who are very much using this style of

thatch so it wouldn't be entirely alien

to second world war Farmers turning into

a sort of semi-permanent building isn't

it it is yeah this thing could last a

very very long

time with the house complete the boys

can move in it's very very cozy Alex

[Music]

Henry that is extremely

[Music]

comfortable it's summer on the farm and

there's an important job for the boys

making hay

[Music]

the team have dairy cows to feed Imports

of cattle feed were low but milk

production remained a priority the

government saw it as vital for the

nation's health and at least 1.3 billion

gallons were required in

1943 before the war the cows would have

been fed through the winter on Hay but

Britain's acreage of Meadow Land had

been hugely reduced

[Music]

I suppose all the pasture land has been

turned over to arble but still grass

around I mean this is a prime example or

churchard I this is a great hay crop

isn't

it in desperation Farmers had begun

turning to every spare scrap of land to

find grass to make hay from verges to

Orchards and now

churchyards it's a tricky piece of land

it's not flat there's gravestones

everywhere yeah

we're going to have to think of some way

of taking it down aren't we but it's

just well weather hasn't been on our

side recently has it no it's not I mean

to be honest this is

just still a bit too wet to cut now so

we're going to have to leave this for a

couple of days and just hope we get some

some sun and some

wind yeah and then come back sounds like

Henry's upset about something let's go

and find out

what it's probably the pigeons and the

Rats well the team wait to bring in the

hay Alex wants to deal with Mana Farm's

rodent problem with the wheat Harvest

only a few months away this is a major

threat to their essential

[Music]

crop during the war it was estimated

that rat damage to food stuffs cost

Britain 60 million a year more than

twice pre-war levels destroying over 2

million tons of food

this represented hundreds of cargo ships

worth of imports and was a huge blow to

the war

effort hello Angela nice toet you so

members of the women's land Army were

trained as specialist rat catchers by

County committees and moved from Farm to

farm in coordinated

assaults professional Pest Control agent

Angela chattle has arrived on the farm

to help Alex tackle the rrap

problem o we have got a a bit of an

investation here haven't we look at this

I mean if you have a rumage you don't

need to look far do you oh look there's

definite WRA dropping common rat yeah

definitely and obviously you got a food

source as well so we're supplying

everything they need right shelter food

everything water so what we've got to do

here then Angela is we've got to turn

this into an anti- rat Zone well first

of all we've got to have a look where

the obviously accessing which is here

they've nwed in here yeah the rats have

to know because their teeth they never

stop growing it's not cuz they like to G

they have to right so they just keeping

they cause so much damage to buildings

Angela has spotted yet more evidence of

the problem look how dark it is here

look so so this is this is their feet

then just running up down these balls

yeah and the bellies is touching all on

it look look can you see it's we call it

smearing that's what we call it the

smearing is worsened by the fact that

rats have no bladders so urinate

continuously on their surroundings

obviously but that is telling us where

the rats are coming from

exactly Alex and Angela are going to lay

some bait boxes we could probably get

one of the tubes underneath the shed y

The Bait Box consists of a tube which

the rat can crawl down and a glass jar

full of food at the end so what we're

doing here then is we're pre-baiting

we're getting the rats familiar with

this place as a feeding place and then

we sweep in replace all of the food with

poison and we get them in a good clean

ha it's going to take a while because

rats are neophobic they don't like new

objects at all one pair of rats can

produce almost 900 Offspring a year

capable of consuming 9 tons of Wheat and

now we need some big bricks to weigh it

down because we've got the chickens

aren't we roaming around the yard

here well that's superb so they're the

kind of baking stations that I need to

be setting up now once they are taking

the grain it's a case of then filling it

up with poison definitely excellent

[Music]

Alex and Peter need to take advantage of

the clear weather to get going with the

crucial task of making

hay Peter has found an allen Scythe a

mechanical Scythe specifically designed

to tackle unusual

terrain it's motto wherever a man can

walk an allen can cut

invented in the 1930s a new model

appeared in 1943 and Farmers could lease

them from the Ministry of

Agriculture the main thing Peter is not

to hit any of the

headstones good luck let's give it a

go

oh noisier than a hand th though isn't

it

who the Allen Scythe cuts the grass

using a large toothed cutting blade

which slides back and forth against the

knife bed to give a scissor-like

[Music]

action this is the boss basically this

thing is in

charge it pulls you forward when it's

tting it's happy but then as soon as it

comes out the grass you're

fighting to get a successful hay crop

requires dry conditions so keeping an

eye on the weather was

essential but this posed a problem for

wartime

Farmers the government banned weather

forecasts for fear they could provide

critical information to enemy

bombers for 5 years the British public

were not officially informed if it was

going to rain or

shine we're going to have to use the old

hay maker art of rushing out here when

we see the uh storm clouds looming and

cocking the hay up we're going to be

fighting our own mini battle here in the

church yard but I have to say if we can

get this hay in um it'll provide an

extra bit of nutrition to some of the

livestock on the farm

[Music]

it's summer on the farm and the team's

preparation for the Harvest months are

going well this was especially important

in the crisis year of

1943 when increasing productivity was

vital

[Music]

and the rat problem is being tackled oh

they're definitely taking that look it's

almost all gone time for some poison

then I did wonder where that

fast the dairy cows are helping Ruth's

dung Heap to

grow Alex and Peter are weeding the

wheat field this will let a little bit

more light in at this critical period of

growth and that light obviously is going

to do the wheat a lot of

favors but the jobs are mounting up and

it's clear they could use some

help in 1942 there was a huge shortage

of Manpower on farms and by 1943 the

minister of Agriculture anticipated that

an extra 20,000 workers would be needed

if Britain was to feed

itself how many children have we got 20

30 something like that the ministry of

labor proposed that children be released

from school to help farmers at the most

critical times of the

year these children would form Harvest

camps living in tents and working on the

land by

day the team have applied for a camp to

come and assist on the farm it's one

thing isn't it to work Outdoors all day

if you know you're going home to a nice

hot bath at the end of it yeah but to

have to do that and be living under

canvas is is a whole new a whole

different thing some people might call

it character building character

building when you read like kids

accounts of what it was like you there

was obviously sort of two sorts of

farmers locally those who supported the

kids in the Harvest camps and those who

didn't right and what type of farmers do

you think we are then Peter I think the

fact that we stood here in the rain

erecting tents for these children rather

than making them do themselves we're the

type they're going to look after them

give them a good time and hopefully get

the best out

[Music]

okay normally recruits were required to

be over 14 but in special circumstances

younger children could also take

part almost 70,000 children worked in

Harvest camps in

1943 without them producing food to feed

the nation would have been almost

impossible how many have we got looks

about 20

hello you come for our Harvest camp

one of the jobs the Harvest camps were

involved in was new to Farmers

collecting herbs for the pharmaceutical

industry at the start of the war 90% of

medicines were derived from Plants

mainly sourced

abroad with Imports cut off and drugs

urgently needed pharmaceutical companies

turned to Homegrown herbs

[Applause]

[Music]

that out don't just pick the top then we

want the whole plant all

right in conjunction with Q Gardens the

government Drew up a list of essential

plants needed for drug production and

paid the British public to collect them

this was an ideal job for

Children Medical herbalist Linda Harold

has come to lend her

expertise so this was quite a commercial

thing we're not talking about herbalism

we're talking about mainstream medicine

pharmaceutical companies using these

things as their raw materials and

producing synthesized drugs from them

that is it so when you see pictures of

people in the war time with the aspirin

the little white pill which was the main

painkiller of the day it's not

synthesized that you know collecting

vast quantities of Meadow Suite and

white willow bark to make aspirin

absolutely today the children are

looking look for goose grass you've got

loads what was this used for this the

the goose grass the goose grass cleav

that was used very much for treating

infections it's very good it treats

works on lymphatic system and obviously

at that time there was you know lots

more you know people real lots more

infections but that's really really

brilliant one for fighting and you've

got loads of it I'm really pleased to

see loads and loads of it we're going to

need a lot more than that aren we

yeah that's a good thing about child

labor you could just send them off wish

I that

energy they were so important during

this time they picked so many herbs they

really it was incredible what they

actually achieved you look by 1944 the

children of Britain were collecting up

to 4,000 tons of plants a

year the hay has been drying in the

churchyard and Peter is also making use

of the Harvest Camp children to help him

gather it

up now watch watch your

points we've had a really good spell of

weather but I feel that the rain's

coming on and we've got to get this hay

cocked because otherwise it will ruin it

will go black in the ground so the idea

is to build up into piles and the bigger

the piles as possible with a very small

surface area it just means that when the

rain comes it will basically run off and

it uh it will affect very very little

hay

getat

us we've roped in a bit of help and uh

well it's

Mayhem

spikes to avoid exploitation the

Ministry of Agriculture introduced a

minimum wage of six P an hour for under

16s we got nine nine kids here they're

all very very enthusiastic they've all

been armed with a pitchfork each

Pitchfork has at least two Spikes all

kids have at the moment at least two

eyes catering for the children was often

done by the farmer's wife today Ruth is

doing the

cooking government advice was quite

determined that despite the difficult

conditions despite the shortness of

rations that the children should be well

fed that they should be getting a

nutritious balanced diet but doing that

on next to nothing is not easy the sorts

of rations that were available to those

out in a tent feeding children day in

day out two hot meals and pack lunches

were very thin

[Music]

indeed local people were encouraged to

donate supplies of foods such as fruit

vegetables and rabbit to the camps but

these were far from a

abundant the government issued a number

of leaflets in attempt to help people

who had to do this it was all sorts of

advice from from how to set up your

field kitchen to how to store the food

outdoors in in these sorts of conditions

um through to recipes and menu planning

they even advised how thick to slice the

bread for the

sandwiches so this recipe is a salmon

Loaf and this comes from one of

government leaflet carried meal snacks

and sandwiches the amounts here are

either a small recipe for four or scaled

up for 100 people at a

time Ruth has made a white sauce which

she adds to the mashed potatoes before

stirring in some tined

salmon fresh fish was in real short

supply during the War I mean if you

think about it pretty much everybody had

made their livings on the sea before the

war got called up one way or another

either into the Merchant Navy or into

the Royal Navy in a large Cas and huge

amounts of British Waters were out of

bounds to those few fishermen who were

left so tin salmon coming in from Canada

was one of the very few forms of fish

available to most people in Wartime

Britain tined salmon was so popular in

Britain that we became the biggest

market for both us and Canadian

exports right all mixed in now this gets

steamed

this just sits on top of there and

steams or boils whichever you want to

call it in a sort of B Marie for an hour

and a

half with all the challenges faced in

1943 the help provided by child labor

was vital to Farmers

[Applause]

that's a door stepping

off children often worked an 8 hour day

so dinner was well

earned right then take yourselves a

sandwich we'll come and get you some the

hot chocolate in a minute make you

hungry don't it all this hard work out

in the cold who's next your day come and

get yourself a

sandwich so what they like yummy yum yum

yum

you like them nice and filling aren't

they keep you going best sandes you like

as a reward for their hard work the

government advised Camp organizers to

put on evening activities for the

children folk musician John Kirkpatrick

has come along to provide some

entertainment on the

F every FR day on the farm it's rabbit P

day

Run Rabbit Run was written shortly after

war was declared and was an instant

hit and sing this little

song rabbit rabbit

rabbbit to poke fun at the Nazis singers

Flanigan and Allen soon change the

lyrics

R well done

everyone herbs were not the only

medicinal product to be found on

farms honey could be used to dress

wounds due to its antiseptic properties

and helped reduce scarring it's still

used in medicine

today but it was also an excellent sugar

substitute by

1943 the rationing system was really

starting to

bite

and moral was suffering people were

having to do without all of the food

stuffs they really enjoyed before the

war on top of that list was sugar so to

boost morale here on our wartime Farm

I'm going to see if I can't get myself a

few jars of Honey by the end of the

summer Alex is looking for a special

type of Bramble which grows up through

bushes creating a long

stem I've got a very oldfashioned way of

making honey and this Bramble is going

to help me in that

[Music]

process Alex is also making use of the

Surplus straw on the farm to create a

scap a traditional basket

beehive to stitch it together he'll be

using the Bramble it needs to be

carefully split open and the insides

removed to form a strip which is both

flexible and strong

[Music]

the Bramble stem is threaded through the

holes in a wooden ring to create a cage

for the straw to sit in okay so the idea

is is that is going to thread in

[Music]

here and there we go that's the

start right we're getting to the end of

the wooden wheel so we're going to have

to start now stitching into the straw

and into the previous

bind a hollowed out and sharpened turkey

bone helps thread the cane through the

straw he will keep adding layers until

the basket is

[Music]

complete Ruth is processing the herbs

she picked with the Harvest

Camp pharmaceutical companies would pay

good good money for the herbs a handy

supplement to the Farm's income but only

if the plants were properly dried and

packaged to preserve their active

ingredients up to 80% of the Herb's

weight is lost dur in drying that's how

much water you need to drive

off and of course to do that

effectively the air needs to get all the

way around the

herbs you don't want anywhere where you

know things against each other and

moisture can get trapped because if do

rottle set in and that includes turning

things

regularly another day or two and they'll

be ready to be packed

up the ideal temperature for drying

herbs is around 35° C on a damp day like

today then this comes into play the

stove which is just turning out a little

gentle heat I don't want too much I

don't want to cook anything in here just

wanting to maintain warm air flow

through the whole Space this shed's

beautifully ventilated so the air in

here which can get as all this moisture

comes off the herbs The Damp is driven

up by the Heat and can make its way out

so the first things I do when I get them

back is to sort of go through the herbs

and pick them clean because the

pharmaceutical companies will only buy

the top quality this is Sage of course

pharmaceutical companies would only pay

5 p a pound for dried Sage I've got a

lot of it so it's worth my doing Fox

Glove however that was much more

lucrative all the seed that I'm drying

out now that retailed for seven and six

a pound has a heck of a lot more than 5

p and even the leaves were one chilling

and thrott Fox Glove was so valuable

because of its ability to lower blood

pressure but it must be handled with

care as it's extremely poisonous and

when I finished here the last job I will

have to do as I leave the shed will be

to block up all the windows to keep the

light out because sunlight UV light

helps to Decay the essential ingredients

in the plants so they don't only need it

warm they also need it

dark Alex's skep is complete during the

war a colony of honey bees could be

purchased for around

£3 but beekeeping expert Mike Holloway

has brought one along for free hello

Mike Hello Alex I apologize for my lack

of Mobility I've turned my ankle over oh

dear oh dear um but thanks every so much

for coming down great to see you and you

now first things first obviously is the

skep

inspection so tell me what you think of

that oh you can be honest Mike I don't

mind I think you've done a proper job

there uh Alex unlike with a wooden Hive

containing removable frames Alex won't

be able to inspect the bee's progress

but as it's made from Surplus materials

the skep is a good cheap and disposable

wartime

alternative now the other thing I've

made as well is a sort of top

compartment because my understanding of

this is that we can get the que queen

and the brood in here and her young in

here but we can deprive her access to

this top area indeed but the workers can

still get in there and produce comb and

honey what we have to do is put a grill

across there which is with spaces in

large enough for workers to get through

too small for the queen to go through

great okay Mike has already prepared a

straw and nettle shelter for the skab

talk me through the process now you've

brought a colony here there's a swarm

that we picked up yesterday Y and I've

actually got the queen we've got her in

a oh right a little cage here she's in

there then indeed she is and that's what

a sort of old school hair curler was

that one of your hair curlers

Mike I

wish well we just put this on to make

sure we don't get any little yep stings

roundly you don't want to sting to the

face

face and we'll make sure the queen goes

into your skep and all the other bees

will follow Mike swarm contains around

10,000 bees he introduces a few into

Alex's skep before placing it in the

shelter put that down for a moment

now we don't want them all coming out

the top do we so I'll put this

on the top done that should keep them

interested in

there so we'll just shake those out onto

there when bees are swarming their honey

stomachs are full making it difficult

for them to sting in the hands of

experts they're safe to work with which

is why Alex and Mike aren't wearing

gloves bees naturally tend to crawl

upwards so the sheet is placed at a

gradient now we're hoping that they find

that entrance yeah yeah the queen is

released near the edge of the skab pop

right there she goes and the bees will

follow her scent

inside it's almost as if someone's put a

call out and they all of a sudden they

are racing up that sheet to get into

that scale that's amazing Mike isn't it

fascinating that is abs wonderful to

watch it's like water running uphill

isn't it it

is if you notice there are some bees

that have got their tails in the air

like that one there oh yeah and there

all around the periphery of of the

slope they are actually Fanning a an

attractant pheromone right which is

bringing down these bees that are flying

to go into the scap and join the

queen it is is a happy sound isn't it

that you can hear these Beast this is a

happy sound yeah yes

indeed in May

1943 the British people received a much

needed morale

boost RAF Squadron number 617 better

known as the dambusters had destroyed

two major German dams and there was a

surge of public interest in RAF

bombers in desperate need of funds the

government seized on this enthusiasm by

launching the wings for victory

fundraising

scheme the scheme encouraged people to

do yet more for the war effort by saving

money in government

[Music]

bonds it's quite a difficult moment

isn't it you know this sort of being on

the defense for so long been seeing

ourselves as the victims here and then

suddenly we we get in a point where no

no we're going to become the aggressors

and at the end of the day the Germans

have been pouring Bobs on British cities

but how did British people feel about

then doing the very same to to to German

women and children there's always this

dilemma when any form of aggression

isn't

it the wings for victory scheme relied

on local fundraising drives

Well I obviously don't think we should

set about raising funds to buy bombs to

bomb people but I do think we should

have some kind of party to reflect some

of these fundraising

activities the team are organizing a

wings for victory fundraising

dance even with a war on women still

wanted to look good and Ruth is after a

new dress

at the outbreak of War Britain was one

of the leading textile manufacturers in

the world but it relied on raw materials

from abroad and these soon became

scarce clothes rationing started in

1941 and the Board of Trade introduced a

scheme of utility fashion where the

government regulated the cloth price

quality and even style of the clothes

being

produced many women started creating

their own clothes Ruth wants to make a

new dress and she's found a novel source

of

fabric we've all heard of parachute that

dresses but that's not the only source

of fabric that people turn to this is

quite an ingenious one look I got a

flower sack they have to be made of

cloth one way or another the

manufacturers had cottoned on that if

they made it in an attractive sort of

material people would by their brand

rather than somebody else's brand so you

get this sort of thing it's amazing

isn't it this is a flower sack so the

whole of this sort of advertising stuff

here can just peel straight off I think

it's only held on with flower and water

paste there's a little bit here it says

to remove paper band soak in water they

knew that's what people were going to do

so this is my cunning plan for Miss

summer dress a couple of flower sacks

[Music]

Alex's bees will take some weeks to

start producing honey he wants to

prepare some as a thank you to the

children from the Harvest Camp so Mike

has lent him a comb from one of his

hives these cells on this Frame are used

by the worker bees to store Surplus

honey and what they do is they then cap

it over with wax

so they can come back to it and feed

throughout the

winter to extract the honey the comb is

scraped out of the

frame and I think those little

kids at our dance are just going to be

so grateful for this stuff they're going

to love

it the next step is to pound the comb

breaking down the wax and honey which is

quite a workout

this right I think that is now pounded

enough certainly a lot finer grain than

than this stuff here so that is now

ready to go into the muslin sheet so I

just lay a sheet over this

bowl in the

sheet now the theory is that the honey

is that much finer grained than the wax

so it will pour through the weave of

this muslin sheet and already so you can

see we've got some coming

through during the war the price of

Honey was regulated and it could only be

sold for around 2 Shilling and 6 per

pound about4 in today's

money I think we've got the right

temperature in the room to do this of

course I'd love to have been sat outside

doing this catching the last few rays of

sunshine but uh I would have had every

bee in the county

breathing down my neck not only is our

house

bombproof it's also be

proof as the war progressed and the

pressure on Imports became even greater

clothes rationing grew ever

tighter in 1941 a Year's worth of

coupons would have purchased a whole new

outfit but by

1943 the clothing allowance had almost

halved as a way of of getting round the

shortages women formed communal sewing

pools ruths Enlisted the help of Jean

haes to turn her flower sack into a new

dress for the fundraising dance oh

that's not bad is it that's quite a

reasonable skirt width but we hadn't got

enough fabric to cut the skirt in all

one piece so we've had to do a bit of

asymmetrical lines on it and we've got

it in two making a virtue of a necessity

really yes yeah there isn't enough

material to go you know cutting away as

we want to do so we really have to cut

tight minimizing fabric waste was of

vital importance and there was strict

government rules dictating the number of

pockets seams and even buttons garments

could

have for's fashion was really dictated

by this need for clever cutting for

using the minimum of fabric it was all

very very cleverly put together um there

were darts there were gathers colors

were detachable because you could have

one blouse three colars three

outfits sewing pools increased in

popularity throughout the war they not

only provided the equipment for dress

making but also some much needed

expertise the youngsters and

particularly the young townies coming

out into the countryside they just

hadn't picked up those skills in quite

the same way so it was a way of sort of

learning as well as sharing equipment

that's right and making do with what you

could

get while Ruth prepares for the fun F

raising dance Peter has urgent work to

do with the

hay it's been drying in the churchard

and now he must bring it in before the

rain

comes he's going to take advantage of a

bailing

machine something that increased in use

during the war thanks to the Ministry of

Agriculture scheme of lending equipment

and experienced operators to Farmers

[Music]

Mr Evans how are you not so bad well

we've brought you some hay yeah and

you've got a Bor yeah so this is the

sort of Bor that would have gone

around own different Farms on contract

well from the war war yeah farmer Morris

Evans still uses his Massy Harris 701

Bor

today it was one of the first machines

that could be moved around a field

collecting hay as it went as well as

being being used as a static baor so

these spikes here picking up the hay

taking it in here and it's going up into

the

or can't even get the lid

open oh wow okay right I wasn't

expecting that so the hay is coming up

into here the Archimedes screw the or is

pushing it this way and into that hay

box I mean obviously the the bail comes

out there I take it yeah then NY pushes

it down into the chamber sorry what is

this this that's a notter a notter yeah

L this looks like something out of a

science

fiction I mean this is really is farming

being dragged into the modern world yeah

I mean a farmer during the second world

war yeah previously there was Ricks Rick

a lot of work isn't they us they used to

put it in Ricks yeah and then it got to

the stage where they could sell the hay

but they had to carry it loose and then

it' be all up the road and everything

else so then they decided then they hire

a Bailer in take the loose hay out the

wreck yeah and bail it up then put on

the trailer and be easier for

transport that looks absolutely lethal

this might look like a lot of hay but it

isn't not after this machine's finished

with it it's going to reduce this down

to maybe six Bales tops so it just

emphasizes how much easier it must have

made it for someone farming during that

period in the war to be able to

transport the hay to be able to gauge

exactly how much they had and of course

to be able to sell any surplus

this is looking pretty good there's

certainly a a split

there in

fact that is a hay

bale that's a really good hay bale

actually that's one of the best hay

bells I've ever seen it's my hay

bale it's the hay that I've cut in the

churchyard and bailed up that is

awesome beauty products were a in

Britain during the 1930s but the

outbreak of War meant many of the raw

ingredients were no longer

available although makeup wasn't

rationed Cosmetics companies were only

making a quarter of pre-war

amounts but for women it was important

to still look their

best with her dress finished and hair

washed Ruth and her daughter Eve have

called upon the services of historic

makeup Specialists Sharon and Gloria to

help them get ready for the wings for

victory

dance having a bit of a look in all the

women's magazines and there's enormous

number of articles about hair and makeup

aren't there Beauty tightens the belt

it's our patriotic duty to cut down a

bit on Cosmetics but you can still stay

lovely it is a huge issue of morale now

when we're coming to wartime that's

still trying to look good and look your

best is a sense of actually being

defiant you know you would be let

getting the side down if you let

yourself go but let's have a little bit

of that in there then

Gloria in the absence of factorymade

products women employed homemade methods

to enhance their looks including using

sugar water to set their hair some

ladies use beer but when we spoke to our

great aunt about it she said if there

was any beer around we would have drunk

it Beauty was seen as such a morale

booster that the minister of Labor made

skilled hairdressers exempt from

conscription almost all hairstyles in

the' 40s required the hair to be curled

taking inspiration from the Hollywood

movie stars of the

day so the finger wave technique is to

use your comb and fingers to push the

hair into flat s-shaped waves and when

the hair has dried it does create a a a

beautiful uh

wave Ruth's hairstyle require flat pin

curls at the front which will add

definition and larger Barrel curls at

the back for

volume feel really weird like this do I

look weird yes glamour in the

making glamour in the

[Music]

making female Munitions workers also had

a special allowance of high-end makeup

to wear in the factories raising their

Spirits as they labored in often grimy

conditions for a period that was very

aere it's still very glamorous so a

cream Rouge just to give a bit of a

flush you get them starting to use

mascaras they came in um a little block

there and a brush and youd mix it with

water or a bit of spit and uh brush it

on and this was something which started

off as uh a little pack of product for

men to use on their beards and

mustaches so from from Men's vanity came

a a product which women could

[Music]

use isn't that

fantastic

God wait till you get the Lippy

on the hay bailing is going well but to

maximize efficiency it's vital that

Peter gets it finished while he still

has access to the

baor well when I said that we get six

bals out of this load I don't actually

think we' get six baales but we

have you can probably get three times

this amount on the trailer so that means

you can use less fuel in your tractor it

it's just so beneficial having these

Bales but we've uh got hey all over this

Farm we need to get it in we need to get

it bailed so I'm going to get another

load it's going to take me into the

evenings I don't think I'm going to make

this dance

tonight America had entered the war in

December 1941 following the attack on

Pearl

Harbor from 1942 US troops poured into

Britain including more than

130,000 African-American

servicemen they brought with them a new

phenomenon The Jive

[Music]

occasions like this provided an escape

from the drudgery of everyday life as

well as raising money for the

government's wings for victory National

savings

[Music]

scheme

whoa You' certainly scrubbed

up the new dress is

it there may be a war on but some people

can still turn out well can't yeah yeah

know the shoes look sign of a good

hardworking farm

[Music]

girl wow it's great isn't it I can tell

the Americans are in town

yeah here be cool and our is

[Music]

[Applause]

Joseph Su is an expert in Jive and swing

dancing it's an infectious dance you you

can't you don't you can't find a dancer

dancing that's not smiling it's just

impossible it's such a vibrant form of

dance isn't it I mean what what is it

officially called and the dance that

we're doing is called IND hop it's

African-American dance when you had the

black GI come across and brought the

real deal and at inop that's when it

really started um you know to take off I

mean it must have been such an enormous

impact in Village Halls up and down the

country I guess the white dancers would

have probably danc something a little

bit more subdued once the G's got out

there and start chucking the ladies

around it would have blown people socks

off but it would have made everyone feel

good that was watching there is one

thing here that wouldn't really have

happened during the war and that's black

and white GIS being in the same dance

the American brought with them not only

their dance but they also brought their

social attitudes and their segregation

that we weren't used to here yes the

white GIS would not tolerate being the

same building as the black

G's African-American troops frequently

came over in advance of the white GIS

and had established themselves in local

communities when white GIS arrived and

tried to impose segregation they often

met a Stony response from the British

people I think we could have a go show

us how to do it absolutely to fine young

ladies like your ladies get ready for

Time of Your

[Music]

Life sorry I'll be doing

well the Lindy Hop was developed by

mixing established dancers like the

Breakaway and the Charleston becoming

popular at the seavo Ballroom in Harlem

this new style spread like wild

[Music]

fire

woo

[Music]

[Applause]

wow that was fantastic

Joseph tuck into that and tell me what

you

think the children from the Harvest Camp

have also come along to the Jive and

have had some bread and honey as a

farewell

treat course one of the main reasons for

these sorts of events in the first place

was to raise money for the war effort

wasn't it national savings certificates

a system whereby ordinary people instead

of putting their money in the bank gave

it to the government in nearly £4

million at their prices which you know

when you think of what that means today

it's just vast how would we have done it

without the savings of ordinary British

people they made it possible for us to

win hopefully while we're all here Peter

finished bailing that hay that's a must

do job yeah and the children haven't

they been an enormous help they' you

know just done load you know it's been

great to have them around and and I I

sort of feel like we've genely sort of

boosted morale here on the farm yeah but

of course it's all to play for in the

next couple of months you know it's it's

make or break season we've got to bring

in a wartime Harvest and it's not going

to be

easy despite another year of hardship at

home farmers efforts in the fields would

not go unrewarded 1943 would see

Britain's biggest acreage of crops not

just in the second world war but in the

history of the country

quite got my Z legs yet next time the

team find new methods of

communication look at that that he's

fast isn't

he bring in a vital

Harvest and preparations for dday come

to Mana

[Music]

Farm find out more about how Britain fed

itself join the second world war with

the open University's free brochure and

online interactive challenges call 084

45

36625 7 or go to

bbc.co.uk wartime farm and follow the

links to the open

[Music]

University across the BBC now explosive

new drama as Sam must killed the one

person who can help her unmissable

Thriller hunted on BBC 1 here a water

company with Talent on tap the choir

sing while you work next and for BBC 4

and Jo dropping tight rope stunt between

the Twin Towers the amazing man on wire

[Music]