When they came in their thousands to howk the tatties

Chris Ferguson

Although we still use the term “Tattie Holidays”, the memory of the vital economic role once played by this autumn holiday is beginning to fade. Well into the 1970s it was essential to the rural economy. School children were needed to lift the potato crop and there were decent rewards for a day’s work.

Many a teenager had the cash to buy a bike or skateboard after a week or so at the tatties.

Finding enough labour to lift the potato crop was not child’s play however. The question taxed government ministers, councils and agricultural authorities.

In the eastern counties of Scotland, planning began early each year to ensure there were enough workers in the autumn.

Nowhere was this more important than in Angus. It produced upwards of 18,000 acres of potatoes in the post-war years. During the war, that rose to 34,000 and all schools closed for three to four weeks to lift the harvest.

By 1947, however, a lack of workers forced farmers to reduce their acreage.

At that time, children were given up to four weeks off. If the weather turned bad, as it did in 1950, permission could be sought from the Secretary of State for Scotland to extend the Tattie Holidays.

That year, by the middle of October, half of the crop remained in the ground.

The weather did turn better but it took until November 1 for the harvest to be declared complete.

At the end of that trying month, one Angus farmer praised the school labour system, saying: “I don’t see how we could manage without the children.”

According to our archives, it was the farmers who were more likely to step out of line by poaching neighbours’ workers. In 1950, however, only one Angus farmer was sanctioned for such acts.

Local pickers were augmented by Glasgow children. In 1951, 1,650 arrived in Angus and Perthshire where they were housed in 12 schools.

By the late 1970s the work of 100 tattie pickers could be done by four people on a mechanised harvester. Today there are no potato pickers but schoolchildren don’t seem to mind.

“Local pickers were augmented by Glasgow children