Lambs' tails for Easter

Easter is coming up and Sharon's mother, Liddy, has been remembering the long-ago days of her childhood in a very rural North Yorkshire village, Sedbergh.

“We children used to pick catkins, or lambs' tails, and primroses as an Easter gift for our mums,” she said. “Sometimes we would pick them on a family walk after Sunday school.

“At Easter we used to sing the hymn: “There is a green hill far away, beside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified. He died to save us all. We may not know, we cannot tell what pain he had to bear, but the dear Lord was crucified, he hung and suffered there.”

“There weren't iceberg lettuce and tomatoes and spring onions and things when I was small. In June and July we used to go to Uncle Harry's garden and he had this marvellous allotment that sloped down to the river. He was an old man. We used to go on a Sunday, perhaps after morning chapel or afternoon service, and we used to get a basket full of raspberries, lettuce, spring onions, anything he had in his garden. Always when we were leaving he used to say, 'And a bunch of roses for mam. His wife was Sharon's great great aunt.”

Liddy remembers her courting days with Sharon's father, Eric.

“We used to go for a walk-out on a Sunday and we would go up to see Lizzie, Eric's mum's friend on her farm about four or five miles out of Sedbergh. Her husband was not very sociable but Lizzy always wanted all the news as she didn't get down to the village very often.

“She used to say 'Come on now, come you in. You mun' have a sup of tea and a bite.' I have never had sponge jam sandwich cake like it before or since. She made her own butter on the farm. We always left with a dozen fresh eggs and on some occasions, as a very special treat, a couple of duck eggs.”

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