Echoes of a vanished way of life inmemoir of Holderness childhood

IT was an “unremittingly hard” and isolated life. But memories of growing up in the “back of beyond” on a Holderness farm were later fondly recalled in a book by Alice Markham.

The book, which captures a way of life which has long since disappeared, has been republished by her son, local historian and book publisher John Markham. Profits are going to St Andrew Church, Paull, where most of her family are buried.

Mrs Markham, who died in 1990, aged nearly 87, was born at Little Humber Farm in 1903, the daughter of the foreman who ruled his men with a rod of iron.

Mr Markham said: “It was a very hard life and they were very conscious of the isolation.

“At first they walked to school in Thorngumbald, which for little children was a very long way. Then they got a donkey cart and then bikes came along.

“Her father was a martinet to the men and cast a gloom over the house. Nevertheless it is a very vital, joyful book.”

Copies of Back of Beyond, Memories of Life on a Holderness Farm,1903-1925 are available, priced 9.95, from the church, which is open between 2pm and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays until the end of the month and post-free from Highgate Publishing, 24 Wylies Road, Beverley, HU17 7AP, or by calling Hull 866826.