Tag Archives: moorhen’s eggs

Eileen and Peter Smith: Thorley foraging 1950s, 1960s

Living off the land

Joy Cotton used to come out from Yarmouth with me. There was a sort of a pond at the edge of Thorley Brook where we picked watercress.
One day when we’d just moved in here, I found some wild gooseberries in the hedge at the end of the houses. They weren’t very big but they tasted lovely. Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921

With a bit of effort it was possible to scramble up to pigeons’ nests and get their eggs, which were good to eat when boiled up in a tin can with potatoes on a campfire.
Near the old Wellow Brickyard (if you were lucky you could find some bricks with Wellow stamped on them) were some ponds where moorhens nested. They laid lots of eggs and were also good to eat. The secret was not to take all of the eggs, but take less than half, so that the moorhen would lay some more, and you could come back again in a few days time for a few more!

There were other good things to eat around Thorley if you knew where to look. Plenty of mushrooms in the autumn, masses of blackberries there for the picking, and delicious apples from Charlie Bryne’s garden just across the road from our house. It was always tricky getting these, as the tree was in full view of his house. You had to try and work out if he was in or not before you sneaked in. If he was in he’d come hollering and shouting at you, and he had a very loud voice so it was all a bit scary! Peter Smith b 1946

Eileen Smith: Free Time, Brownies and Guides 1930s

Eileen Smitth , Effie Pitman:Brownies at Wootton 1929

Eileen Smitth , Effie Pitman:Brownies at Wootton 1929

My aunt was one of the original Girl Guides and I joined the Brownies. The year after I joined, we had a coach trip to Wootton to meet up with other Brownie groups. Effie was there too.
On Armistice Day and Empire Day at school, we were allowed to wear our uniform. There was a big British Legion then too, and they used to have an important Armistice Day ceremony. One year I was the flag bearer for the guides, I was so proud.

On summer evenings, we used to go down to Rofford’s Field, and cut out a turf and make a campfire to cook our supper. Oh it was lovely! We used to wade in the marsh, sometimes with the mud right over our wellingtons, and collect moorhen’s eggs to cook.  They were like pullets’ eggs, gorgeous. There weren’t coots, only moorhens. Eileen Smith