'Those were the days!'

'Those were the days!'

Ita McCelland describes a summer job strawberry picking as a teenager.

Ita McClelland

Trinity College Dublin

1969

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Ita McClelland

Work and Employment

Life Story

Co. Armagh

1960's

From about age 13 - 16, I spent a few summers picking strawberries for a local farmer. The wages weren't good but the craic was great and many new friends were made. The man who recruited the young ones from our area sometimes picked us up in a small covered lorry and we all sat in the back. One day however, when the lorry wasn't available, he squashed us all into a mini van to leave us home. As we were driving through Armagh we came up to an army checkpoint and the soldier asked for everyone to get out. I don't think he could believe his eyes when about sixteen bodies got out of the fact of the van. Those were the days!We all took a packed lunch with us and the lady at the farm brought out enormous pits of tea for us all. Some of the workforce overdid it with the strawberry eating and ended up with sore tummies and sunburn was a risk if the weather stayed good. There was the odd strawberry fight too. Some romances started there and some of those went on to get married. Each year now when I see the local strawberries for sale it brings back great memories. As I said before we didn't earn a lot of money but we laughed a lot.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)