Reading ‘Big Pat’ Jennings’ story takes me back!  I focus especially on how he and his family earned money; doing various little jobs just to earn a few bob.

We were all engaged in similar pursuits;

messenger boys,

running errands;

picking blackberries;

selling sticks;

potato, strawberry or raspberry picking.

It would be advantageous if you were lucky enough to possess ‘a cart’ (soap box) for with that, you graduated to such jobs as collecting bushels of coke from ‘the Gasworks’.

Your customers were usually neighbours or local shopkeepers.   Two of my regulars were Tommy Roe, the ‘Boot Mender’ and Jack McAteer the ‘Petrol Garage Owner’, both located in Lower William Street.One particular favourite job every Thursday was herding the cattle or sheep onto the docked ship (usually ‘The Dundalk’) in the Albert Basin. 

At the end of the day, when the Dockers collected their wages from the ‘Steam Packet Office’ each man would produce a ‘three penny bit’ from his pay packet, hand it to the foreman who in turn would distribute the total fairly amongst us kids. 

These types of jobs were ‘Little Earners’ which were often spent on ‘treats’.  (My own favourites were ‘Wagon Wheels’ and choc ices). 

Then of course were the seasonal jobs which were ‘Big Earners’. These ranged from potato picking (Spring and Autumn crops) and the less remunerative but lighter Summer crops, strawberry and raspberry picking. 

For ‘potato picking’, (that was a ‘backbreaker’) the normal rate was 12 shillings per day (£3 for the 5-day week).   

The ‘Pickers’ would assemble at the crack of dawn at a designated ‘pick up point’ somewhere at the edge of town.  Your transportation to and from the potato fields was in most cases a tractor-drawn trailer driven by the farmer who hired you. 

Work started immediately on arrival at your destination.   Around 09.30 am the farmer’s wife would appear with most-welcome breakfasts. Usually they consisted of boiled-egg-filled home-baked bannock breads, accompanied with a huge enamel can of piping hot strong tea. 

                                                                                                                           After a short break it was back to work until dinner time.

We’d then flock into the farmhouse where we were ushered to a large hardwood dining table set on a stone-clad floor.  In no time the ‘good woman’ of the house served up a massive roast dinner with all the trimmings. 

After dinner it was back to the crops until the day’s work was done and then transport back to town where we’d be dropped off at our pick-up point. 

Now the strawberry and raspberry picking was less personal and didn’t require the teamwork effort of the potato picking.  This was because a lot more pickers were hired and of course you could be disappointed by not being selected on ‘that first day’.   

You made your own transport arrangements to and from the site and it was  a ‘pick-more, earn-more’ system.  This was okay but people usually kept their heads down most of the day.  As a consequence the atmosphere that prevailed was much less frivolous and there just wasn’t the same camaraderie. 

The wages from these ‘big earners’ were a contribution to your family’s household budget that was gladly welcomed. 

Indeed, the Newry youngsters in those days certainly seemed a very productive and inventive generation.  

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