Did you ever gather wood? I always remember dad telling us it warmed you twice, once when you sawed or chopped it up and again when you burned it. This image from a newspaper cutting advised: “Gathering wood during the General Strike of 1926. It was a common sight to see all ages of people out gathering wood. There was a need for an endless stream of fuel to generate sufficient warmth from the cast-iron kitchen ranges to warm the room, heat the water in the side boiler of the range, and cook and bake in the oven. On wash days a fire was lit beneath a cast iron ‘set pot’ in the scullery, in order that laundry could be boiled, and water for bath-time was heated the same way. Normally only fallen wood was gathered, so it was quite unusual for men to take saws and axes to chop trees down as seen in this photograph of Kilton Woods. Perhaps wood was their only fuel during this desperate time. Where it was available ling (heather) was also collected, for kindling.’
Image courtesy of a friend of the Archive.
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