Child of the Hedgerows, A: Growing up in Herefordshire in the 1950s

Description Only one copy left, which has a slightly scuffed cover and corner, otherwise perfect. Norma Forrest tells the story of her childhood near Weobley in rural Herefordshire in the 1950s, a time of poverty and hard work, but also full of delight and promise. Norma was to move away from the countryside and become a townie, only to return to the same area two decades later. She writes about her beloved Herefordshire both through the innocent eyes of a child, and also as she came to see it later, when she sensed and bore witness to the changes in rural society and the countryside that had taken place while she was away. As she says herself, she describes a ‘typical little country girl’s life’ of 60 years ago. While not so very long ago, in many ways it was a different world – a life of hop-picking and harvesting, hedging and wooding. Norma remembers it with love and clarity, an eye for the funny side of things, a deep appreciation for the family and friends who protected and inspired her, and a sense of indignation and sadness at the hardships suffered by the people and the land, both in the past, when workers’ lives were all too dependent on the kindness or otherwise of those they worked for, and in more recent years, when the countryside has changed so much and so fast. Paperback | 128 pages | 234 x 156 mm | 2013 29 b&w illustrations ISBN 9781906663797