Smith loved
living amidst the iconic landscapes and wildlife of the Lake District. But she
was fully aware that whilst, like many working class people in rural
industries, her families “lives ran parallel” to those of the ancient
landowners their “worlds were very different”.
In RURAL,
Smith sets out to highlight, a “part of society that” aside from a magazine
such as LANDWORKER “has been largely forgotten”. Drawing on her childhood
memories, I enjoyed Smith’s highly revealing historical account of the
countryside and, aside from my belief she should have spoken to, at least, one
UNITE workplace rep from a rural setting (1) , her interviews with contemporary
rural working class people.
The rural
occupations explored by Smith include working on the land as a forester, mining
– which includes tales of its dangers– textiles, which replaced weavers, that
enjoyed a good living in their day, with child labour and the rigorous
discipline of the clock, tenant farming, tourism, with 16 million visiting the
Lake District annually, slate and food production.
Construction
also features prominently. In 1939 there were, following the 1936 Housing Act
that gave local councils the chance to subsidise building agricultural cottages
for labourers, 159,000 council houses for people working in rural industries in
England. Today, there an increasing number of houses being built in semi-rural
areas. More are needed.
In her book,
Smith rightly stresses how the countryside is still today a “working
environment” but warns that many of today’s rural jobs are often precarious and
highly vulnerable, especially, as is so for many migrant workers, when
accommodation is tied into the contract.
There are though also larger businesses which, although Smith does not mention it, are places of trade union activity include the long established Sullom Voe oil terminal on Shetland, Sellafield on the Cumbrian coast and the planned Sutherland space port. Balancing environmental concerns with providing jobs is always going to be tricky. Some rural communities have, of course, inspired by the first island community buyout on the Isle of Eigg in 1997, sought to overcome these problems by taking advantage of opportunities to buy the lands on which they live. Just under 3 per cent of Scotland’s land is under community ownership and whilst ‘community buyouts’ in England have largely been for smaller businesses such as pubs that are 500 community land trusts currently that have built over 1,000 homes.
1. I am also confused as to how the book
manages to miss the importance of the Tolpuddle Martyrs or such as Joseph Arch.
