Thanks for sharing this it brought tears I was 9 at the time of making this film although tougher times financially the country was a safer and mentally healthier place.
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain Not immigration but Super markets. They drove down food prices by forcing farmers to accept less money. They had to pay lower wages but Brits didn't want so little pay and naturally in order for many farms to survive they employed migrant labour. Now theres barely any migrant labour here, super markets still pay less and farms have folded all over Lincolnshire and elsewhere. Only super farms owned by the likes of those such as James Dyson thrive. Only they can operate on lower margins and afford to automate. There's also the fact we compete internationally and import >40% of our food
It's a way of life that has gone by for a while but I have no doubt it will return though maybe not for hundreds of years or maybe even sooner. But nature tends towards beauty in all things and nature will have it's way. The wheel turns. Learn some good crafts because " it's important to do what You want to do and live how you want to do". Thanks for sharing this film
I'm from Northern Ireland and its just wonderful watching the English way of life. This footage is priceless, Ernie learned so much on the fells. The Pub is a meeting place for these wonderful characters. Loving the accents and both sharing the craic. Thanks for sharing 😊👍💚☘☘☘
Thank you Barry I'm a devon boy and plenty who speak like Ernie 👍 , I refuse to bow down and give my english british culture up. Still alive and well in the countryside to the point the anti hunters are wondering why they are putting up a show buoy
What an amazing snippet of what is sadly a bygone age. It’s horrific to think that we at the present time are missing the importance of all the sustainability and conservation of resources that Ernie’s generation fostered and lived by. I cannot thank you enough for sharing what is a milestone in the history of how country folk lived. I will be sure to share this. All the best from Scotland. Garry
i blame Governments, they want the mighty dollar and want the Plebs (us) to be fully dependent on them or big business, they do NOT want us to be independent.
Amazing glimpse into a forgotten story! Imagine looking at this in 2022 using a handheld device. Everything men like Ernie was meticulous thought out and past along. Device , location, time, bait ! All experienced through generations. Sadly the world of today is the poorer . More traditional ways going forever 🇮🇪☘️
I just found this on a wet Sunday morning. It let me escape for a while from the grim reality of 2021. I'm no fan of water generally, but this is fascinating. I'm now retired on the edge of the Somerset levels, but up until two and a half years ago lived in a farm cottage in South Oxfordshire. I spent all my spare time with farmers and keepers, did a lot of deer and vermin control with a rifle. When we went there, you could hear lapwings most of the time. Not now. Buzzards, Red Kites, fox, badger, all the usual predators. Anything that nested on the ground had no chance, despite my best efforts. And the likes of Packham want to introduce more.
Simply wonderful , I'm back watching this a year later, even better the second time around, Ernie was 69 when this was made,he went on to live longer than the Queen ,a ripe age of 99 I suppose he was king of his own way of life🌈👌
Oh what have we lost? something so true, genuine and beautiful. A hard time but a time of perfect harmony for man and nature never to be seen again.What a terrible loss. Thank you for sharing this wonderful glimpse into a lost era.
Nick Rae -- It's interesting as a piece of history, but the world has changed and you're not seriously telling me that you'd prefer to live this way over your current situation.
What a wonderful programme. It saddens me how our country has changed and not for the better. For those of us of a certain age, we all knew an Ernie James and we lament that they’ve all gone now and taken that knowledge and those skills and memories with them. A simpler time, a happier time. Mention the word globalist to these people and they would genuinely enquire ‘what are they?’ They were the last generation of great Englishmen. They were not politicians, war heroes, movie stars or philanthropists. They were people at one with nature and knew what was best for the countryside. They were happy. No one seems to be happy anymore. I hope we find our feet again soon.
@@davidwarren4824 physically no but the characters are fewer and farther between now. The Cambridgeshire accents of my youth are mostly gone, replaced by estuarine Essex. The wildlife happily is much the same. I even have my old fen skates!
I came across this fantastic film while on lockdown for covid 19 . It is one of the best things I have seen on you tube , and has brought a smile to my face in these dark times . A time when you appreciate the most important things in your life family, health this film shows all what we are missing in life . Thank you for sharing it with us
I spent ten years shepherding cattle on the washes, it was a privilege to go to work in such an otherworldly place. The natural silence of a summer morning at 4.30am, if only it could be bottled! Sunrises and sunsets beyond imagination. You might as well have been a thousand miles from human habitation.
My dad was a wild fowler, punt gunner using the punt and gun he inherited from his father, my grandfather. Dad also also used a rifle for shooting. He didn’t shoot for profit but to feed his family. My father was born and bred in Poole so his location for shooting was Poole Harbour, and he was a founder member of the Dorset Wildfowlers. Poole harbour is a very large but shallow harbour with lots of winter wildfowl. Now unfortunately those days are gone, when my sister and I as children, were living on one of the 5 small island when dad worked as the boatman before becoming the first National Trust Head Warden for Brownsea Island and looking after rather than shooting wild fowl. Before that time in the winter our main meal fare consisted roast wildfowl. When the shooting was good we had a whole duck each! Mallard and widgeon were my favourite but teal and pintail etc we’re always welcome to the table. I particularly liked the ferreting out of the last pieces of meat from the carcass with my fingers, nothing was wasted! I have to buy the taste of my childhood food now, but am happy to relive those wonderful flavours. It’s a time gone bye but I’m so grateful to be one of the last generation who remember those days, when life was more natural and hunting shooting and fishing was for the table. Christine
Thanks for the lovely comment Christine. I'm happy to say that fowling continues to take place on the harbour (I'm a member of Dorset WA) and what I manage to take home is still very much enjoyed by me and my loved ones!
I've lived in SW Middlesex most of my life, born and bred apart from time in the RAF. But 10 years ago I went to Sutton Gault on the New Bedford River, and fell in love with it. Most people don't get it. They find the Fens boring, but I love the area. It has a unique timeless feel of huge sunsets and sunrises, and clean air. One day I'll move there. One day....
I was born there. It breaks my heart I ever left. I found the people too conservative, didn't like outsiders or if you were different. But they were kind. Now I'm approaching 54 with my own children, stuck in London. I've let them down badly :(
@@annabizaro-doo-dah You should not feel like you have let them down. At the time you did what you felt was right and followed your instinct. Life is a journey and we have to choose which paths to take, you chose to move away no doubt for good reasons.
Beautiful, truly indicative of a world now lost to us. On a technical point, the use of Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp as the soundtrack for the opening of part two is one of the most effective uses of music I've ever heard.
I was 12 years old in 1975 .what fond memories this film has brought back.can remember well this way of life and these old characters.Totally in tune with nature,it's ways and how it worked.Sadly now those ways and men have gone and all of their knowledge with them.Not a university degree amongst them all, but surely some of the most educated and knowledgeable people ever. Thanks for sharing 👍
I agree.. it did seem to all turn after that hot summer of 76 scorched England's sward. Punk rock arrived, and in its wake came all the hell of social engineering. In a way it was like a swansong for the end of a story.
@@Lytton333 You summed it up beautifully. The culture of the whole country started it's long change to where we are now. I've been in mourning for 46 years.
Fantastic bit of history about the fens a place deep in my heart love owning a property in newborough fen Cambridgeshire fishing other country persuits on me door step thanks for posting this film kind regards 👍
This documentery is a joy to watch. When ernie goes to the pub, you notice he leaves his bicycle outside without locking it, britain when it was a more civilised place.
godbless you . Buddhist Teachings also a great way to remind ourselves what life is really about. Ajahn Brahm and Thich Nhat Hanh two great teachers of Buddism. It will change your life.
No, the accent is still very common around Suffolk and Norfolk, though im from there, i occasionally come across folk i find hard to understand. It's a delightful accent and language used is extremely interesting
And villiages in northants they still have it..like rung un (wrong one) git the dug ewt, as in( get the dog out) , kent(can not) shent,(Shall not) enna gunna... ( not going to)..
What a wonderful video to watch, a real pleasure. It seems such a shame that we are loosing all the people like those featured in the video just as we are starting to loose all of the field and country crafts that they were so "educated in". Oh to be back in "the good old days" when most of us knew how to live with what nature offered us. Let's face it, how many local butchers do you see nowadays that have (For instance) fresh wild rabbits hanging, hares or pheasants hanging in their windows, not many I'll bet compared to say 50 years ago!
I have been fascinated by the Norfolk/Fenland way of life for a long time. A lot of it not dissimilar to my youth as my father was a Wildfowler/eel fisherman on similar washes. I seen this film before and although I'm a long way from Norfolk I had a pilgrimage to that special place and with the hospitality of a very kind Norfolk man,I spent the best part of a week doing and seeing amazing things that meant so much to me.Ernie James is a legend as is men such as Phil Gray who is of similar ilk! Thanks for the upload.
I'm so pleased I found this ! I stayed in Welney early 1970 s Old Bedford ,New Bedford Rivers ! There was a store that sold 'everything' ,even a mantle for my Tilly ! Another lovey pub was 'Three Tuns' close to bridge !!!
@@patchthesinclair5896 Indeed. Not too far short of the folk I was brought up around as a nipper. I'd go back to that way of living in a heart beat. Like you say, we may have too. Personal perspective I guess.
@@Rameman33 ten different jobs according to the season of the year! That is living by the moon seasons and not as a servant of the sun dial. I have lived largely by seasons and have been the baby boy of the last generation to have worked with a horse for transport, to have memory of the days before a strand of plastic on every beach. It's sad what we have done in the name of progress. Tell any young person any thing about things that will be lost after us. Any young person that wants to listen. It could save us from following the dinosaurs.
Lovely wish it was like that now, streams and rivers today are choked to death with weed, nobody gives a damn in this day and age. Bring the fen man back I say 🙂
Hello Catastrophe Cats 😺, Thank you for introducing yourself and your connection to this remarkable man and his way of life. What a beautiful documentary. As with a lot of vintage programes I like to try and guess the age and birth of certain characters....With the healthy lifestyle of Ernie's I'm guessing he may have been older than he looks at the time of filming in 1975....could he have perhaps been around 65 - 70 yrs old when this film was made? That would have put him at a similar age/generation as my grandad, who was born in 1905.....I am 46, born 1973 (he was 15 yrs senior to my grandmother). The old brain cogs were whirring then, as you said Ernie was your great grandad! I was just wondering what age you are? (as I find the different generation ages quite fascinating...). Regards Jane p.s. I really enjoyed Elwyn and Django's antics. I too am a cat lover, we have three 😻
Yes, I definatly agree. I have been to Welney before because my family lived there for century... Ernie was my Great Grandad. I was really surprised when I saw this.
Why can’t they make programmes like this anymore.Anglia made some excellent television as did all the ITV companies.Now we have an ITV that just appeals to the lowest common denominator. Thankyou Wildfowler
Thank you for this. Good honest hard work and all done in shirt and wast coat etc. A different era, it’s these parts that are sorely missed but there was a hell of a lot of hardships for a lot of people back then.
What a beautiful way to earn a living such a shame I bet most of these men have died and not got to pass on there knowledge a true river man I'm not the same person in the close season
I went to a rural primary school, and we used to visit characters like this, as such by the time I was 12, I understood and was semi competent in most rural crafts, I even knew how to thatch a roof. I then went to a secondary school in a town and struggled with the curriculum, so much so that at 16 I left having not completed my GCSE’s and failed the 4 subjects that I did attend the exam. However I did obtain city and guilds qualifications in craft design and technology. In this mad and very strange world that we find ourselves in, now, where the curriculum is focused on teaching children that they can identify as a tomato 🍅, I feel very strongly that instead, kids should be taught some real world skills like these, where they’d be able to focus their thoughts on being creative, and maybe grow a tomato than identify and become one..
A lovely well put together 4 season life diary of a man whose skills are slowly fading into some lines in history books. Thanks for sharing this little escape into the simple but meaningful existence.
this is a wonderful film about wonderful people who lived and breathed the fen lifestyle,,,the only thing i find hard to grasp is the "conversation" with someone four miles away!,,my point being,how ,back then ,would they know if someone was opening a conversation.!!
I had wondered about a connection. Thanks for the confirmation. There was a certain kind of countryman/sportsman/naturalist/writer/broadcaster that enriched many of us years ago and are sorely missed. I think of Colin Willock, Oliver Kite, Richard Walker, Clive Gammon and many others whose work opened my eyes and taught me so much. I’m afraid that Countryfile’s excited content for short attention spans simply does not cut it for me! Keep up the good work.
What I like best about this is actually the music, and the fact that every single piece is listed in the description!! Thanks so much! I’ve never heard of Moeran, but he’s on my list to listen to bc I really enjoyed his pieces included here! And, I’m not an overly nostalgic person, bc I know that there really aren’t any “good old days.” When people begin romanticizing the past, they forget what was going on in the world at the time, and really what hard physical labor-for men and women-really feels like. When the past seems extremely rosy to people, I’ve always felt it’s bc they’re allowing their minds to grow old, receding into the past instead of grappling with today.
Oh gawd.. not the old 'rose tinted ' routine.. Of course there was hard work you daft bugger, you think life should end up merely wrested like a chocolate truffle from a box? They expected hard work, but it gave meaning to existence.. it WAS existence. They weren't jaded moderns who have to wheel out the rose tinted cliche.
Thanks for sharing this it brought tears I was 9 at the time of making this film although tougher times financially the country was a safer and mentally healthier place.
People had different concerns. There can’t be many things worse than knowing where your next meal’s coming from.
Immigration
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain your comment certainly is bollocks
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain Not immigration but Super markets. They drove down food prices by forcing farmers to accept less money. They had to pay lower wages but Brits didn't want so little pay and naturally in order for many farms to survive they employed migrant labour. Now theres barely any migrant labour here, super markets still pay less and farms have folded all over Lincolnshire and elsewhere. Only super farms owned by the likes of those such as James Dyson thrive. Only they can operate on lower margins and afford to automate. There's also the fact we compete internationally and import >40% of our food
@@fishfingers160 why though?
It's a way of life that has gone by for a while but I have no doubt it will return though maybe not for hundreds of years or maybe even sooner. But nature tends towards beauty in all things and nature will have it's way. The wheel turns. Learn some good crafts because " it's important to do what You want to do and live how you want to do". Thanks for sharing this film
You must feel very privileged to have a grandfather like this what a man they dont make them like this anymore really enjoyed it ❤
I'm from Northern Ireland and its just wonderful watching the English way of life. This footage is priceless, Ernie learned so much on the fells. The Pub is a meeting place for these wonderful characters. Loving the accents and both sharing the craic. Thanks for sharing 😊👍💚☘☘☘
I doubt that exact accent is spoken by anybody these days. Died out with Ernie.
Thank you Barry I'm a devon boy and plenty who speak like Ernie 👍 , I refuse to bow down and give my english british culture up. Still alive and well in the countryside to the point the anti hunters are wondering why they are putting up a show buoy
Great little bit of history that. We'll worth watching.
Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
What an amazing snippet of what is sadly a bygone age. It’s horrific to think that we at the present time are missing the importance of all the sustainability and conservation of resources that Ernie’s generation fostered and lived by. I cannot thank you enough for sharing what is a milestone in the history of how country folk lived. I will be sure to share this. All the best from Scotland. Garry
i blame Governments, they want the mighty dollar and want the Plebs (us) to be fully dependent on them or big business, they do NOT want us to be independent.
Amazing glimpse into a forgotten story! Imagine looking at this in 2022 using a handheld device. Everything men like Ernie was meticulous thought out and past along. Device , location, time, bait ! All experienced through generations. Sadly the world of today is the poorer . More traditional ways going forever 🇮🇪☘️
I just found this on a wet Sunday morning. It let me escape for a while from the grim reality of 2021. I'm no fan of water generally, but this is fascinating. I'm now retired on the edge of the Somerset levels, but up until two and a half years ago lived in a farm cottage in South Oxfordshire. I spent all my spare time with farmers and keepers, did a lot of deer and vermin control with a rifle. When we went there, you could hear lapwings most of the time. Not now. Buzzards, Red Kites, fox, badger, all the usual predators. Anything that nested on the ground had no chance, despite my best efforts. And the likes of Packham want to introduce more.
Peckham hasn.t clue bout wildlife or countryside
Made the year I was born. Seems like a hell of a lot longer than 44 years. Truly better times.
Not only a splendid documentary of an extinct way of life but television of a rare quality. Thank you.
Simply wonderful ,
I'm back watching this a year later, even better the second time around,
Ernie was 69 when this was made,he went on to live longer than the Queen ,a ripe age of 99 I suppose he was king of his own way of life🌈👌
Quite simply, that film is a masterpiece. Thank you.
Thanks, great to hear you enjoyed it.
One of the most enjoyable documentaries i've ever watched, back when shops used
to close, and only clergymen worked on a Sunday!
manonamountain you might enjoy watching this vid also, ruclips.net/video/F4XNv0QGwdA/видео.html
Yes we could do with a world cull so that we can all relax more ....20 million people is more than enough for the size of England
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain you can be first then.
Oh what have we lost? something so true, genuine and beautiful. A hard time but a time of perfect harmony for man and nature never to be seen again.What a terrible loss. Thank you for sharing this wonderful glimpse into a lost era.
Nick Rae -- It's interesting as a piece of history, but the world has changed and you're not seriously telling me that you'd prefer to live this way over your current situation.
@@Liofa73 obviously , he is ! And i agree
@@britbyname3620 I agree, would much rather live this simpler life!
What a beautiful chap, and a great film.
What a wonderful programme. It saddens me how our country has changed and not for the better. For those of us of a certain age, we all knew an Ernie James and we lament that they’ve all gone now and taken that knowledge and those skills and memories with them.
A simpler time, a happier time. Mention the word globalist to these people and they would genuinely enquire ‘what are they?’
They were the last generation of great Englishmen. They were not politicians, war heroes, movie stars or philanthropists. They were people at one with nature and knew what was best for the countryside. They were happy. No one seems to be happy anymore. I hope we find our feet again soon.
A wonderful programme & snapshot of a time long gone. Absolutely loved it & the way it captured this man's life. Wish there were more like it.
Cant believe this was on the net.brilliant ,the wife had ernie's Violin given to her as a present to see it on here was amazing.
I hope it's been tuned since then!
Wow, very fascinating. My parents now run the lamb and flag, they celebrated 20 years of running it this year!
I'll be there with my dog sometime this year.
Where is it ? I,m doing a UK tour next summer
I have eaten there and it was wonderful. My bedroom window looks out over the washes from a little further up at Mepal.
Has it changed much
@@davidwarren4824 physically no but the characters are fewer and farther between now. The Cambridgeshire accents of my youth are mostly gone, replaced by estuarine Essex. The wildlife happily is much the same. I even have my old fen skates!
I came across this fantastic film while on lockdown for covid 19 . It is one of the best things I have seen on you tube , and has brought a smile to my face in these dark times . A time when you appreciate the most important things in your life family, health this film shows all what we are missing in life . Thank you for sharing it with us
Glad you enjoyed it Paul. I end up re-watching this a couple of times a year, helps keep life in perspective I think!
I spent ten years shepherding cattle on the washes, it was a privilege to go to work in such an otherworldly place. The natural silence of a summer morning at 4.30am, if only it could be bottled! Sunrises and sunsets beyond imagination. You might as well have been a thousand miles from human habitation.
Glad you enjoyed the video and interesting to hear your experiences on the washes.
A simple life, no consumer pressure, no TV, no Mac Donald’s, no social media. Wonderful. I would trade the modern world for the old anytime.
hey man whats your problem :(
If you can't even handle a bunch of things that can be easily ignored, you wouldn't be able to handle a truly hard life.
My dad was a wild fowler, punt gunner using the punt and gun he inherited from his father, my grandfather. Dad also also used a rifle for shooting. He didn’t shoot for profit but to feed his family. My father was born and bred in Poole so his location for shooting was Poole Harbour, and he was a founder member of the Dorset Wildfowlers. Poole harbour is a very large but shallow harbour with lots of winter wildfowl. Now unfortunately those days are gone, when my sister and I as children, were living on one of the 5 small island when dad worked as the boatman before becoming the first National Trust Head Warden for Brownsea Island and looking after rather than shooting wild fowl. Before that time in the winter our main meal fare consisted roast wildfowl. When the shooting was good we had a whole duck each! Mallard and widgeon were my favourite but teal and pintail etc we’re always welcome to the table. I particularly liked the ferreting out of the last pieces of meat from the carcass with my fingers, nothing was wasted!
I have to buy the taste of my childhood food now, but am happy to relive those wonderful flavours. It’s a time gone bye but I’m so grateful to be one of the last generation who remember those days, when life was more natural and hunting shooting and fishing was for the table. Christine
Thanks for the lovely comment Christine. I'm happy to say that fowling continues to take place on the harbour (I'm a member of Dorset WA) and what I manage to take home is still very much enjoyed by me and my loved ones!
I've lived in SW Middlesex most of my life, born and bred apart from time in the RAF. But 10 years ago I went to Sutton Gault on the New Bedford River, and fell in love with it. Most people don't get it. They find the Fens boring, but I love the area. It has a unique timeless feel of huge sunsets and sunrises, and clean air. One day I'll move there. One day....
I was born there. It breaks my heart I ever left. I found the people too conservative, didn't like outsiders or if you were different. But they were kind. Now I'm approaching 54 with my own children, stuck in London. I've let them down badly :(
@@annabizaro-doo-dah You should not feel like you have let them down. At the time you did what you felt was right and followed your instinct. Life is a journey and we have to choose which paths to take, you chose to move away no doubt for good reasons.
I'm a fenman, don't forget your wellies😁
Felt privileged to watch this film, a fascinating insight into a magical era and Ernie pulled us into that part of time that has now gone.
I'm glad someone had the forthoug to document it before it was gone. It makes me sad to think how life could be compared how we've made it.
What a cracking piece of film totally engrossed in it superb !!!
Beautiful, truly indicative of a world now lost to us. On a technical point, the use of Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp as the soundtrack for the opening of part two is one of the most effective uses of music I've ever heard.
We will never see those times again...thanks for preserving those memories.
Thank you . RUclips Gold .
Glad you enjoyed it.
All familiar territory. I lived in Ely for years, and delivered and collected post in Welney before that. Lovely to see the beautiful Fens
Glad you enjoyed it Adrian.👍
Ernie is dead and so are his skills. that makes me feel sad no one will ever do this again like old Ernie
I know.
His skills aren't dead
@@chucky2316your right these guys are like unicorns nowadays just people who keep the traditions alive 💯
Ernie lived to the ripe old age of 99 years old and died in 2005, where he was born and lived, in Norfolk.
I was 12 years old in 1975 .what fond memories this film has brought back.can remember well this way of life and these old characters.Totally in tune with nature,it's ways and how it worked.Sadly now those ways and men have gone and all of their knowledge with them.Not a university degree amongst them all, but surely some of the most educated and knowledgeable people ever. Thanks for sharing 👍
Wildfowler, thank you for sharing this.
Whenever I see 1975 next to any video, I have to watch it.
For me, everything culturally, changed forever from '76 [I was only 17/18 at the time].
I agree.. it did seem to all turn after that hot summer of 76 scorched England's sward. Punk rock arrived, and in its wake came all the hell of social engineering. In a way it was like a swansong for the end of a story.
@@Lytton333 You summed it up beautifully. The culture of the whole country started it's long change to where we are now. I've been in mourning for 46 years.
Fantastic bit of history about the fens a place deep in my heart love owning a property in newborough fen Cambridgeshire fishing other country persuits on me door step thanks for posting this film kind regards 👍
This documentery is a joy to watch.
When ernie goes to the pub, you notice he leaves his bicycle outside without locking it, britain when it was a more civilised place.
Thank you so much for posting this, after a tough day it really helped, such a beautiful film and reminder what life is all about.
godbless you . Buddhist Teachings also a great way to remind ourselves what life is really about. Ajahn Brahm and Thich Nhat Hanh two great teachers of Buddism. It will change your life.
Wonderful. Lovely to hear such a strong regional accent as well. I bet there’s not many who still talk like this on the Fens.
No, the accent is still very common around Suffolk and Norfolk, though im from there, i occasionally come across folk i find hard to understand. It's a delightful accent and language used is extremely interesting
And villiages in northants they still have it..like rung un (wrong one) git the dug ewt, as in( get the dog out) , kent(can not) shent,(Shall not) enna gunna... ( not going to)..
Very few people today could live like this . What wonder awaited your everyday activity fantastic film .
He lived for another 30 years passing away aged 99 in 2005
Time lost forever. Beautiful and sad.
Evidently it's gone but not forgotten
Love those unique, hand-made, hand-tools the gentleman uses, to make the eel traps.
Superb, I used to love fishing out in the fens in the 1960's
Brilliant production. Respect and thanks to Grandad Wildfowler and the people like Ernie James.
Thanks for this, how sad we didn’t preserve more of the old ways.
A fascinating insight into what life used to be like, many thanks for posting.
Just found this wonderful documentary. Totally fascinating. Ernie James and his friends were such colourful characters. Thank you for sharing.
Brilliant history video. I was 21 years old, it just seemed like yesterday, that world. Peace be unto you.
What a wonderful video to watch, a real pleasure. It seems such a shame that we are loosing all the people like those featured in the video just as we are starting to loose all of the field and country crafts that they were so "educated in". Oh to be back in "the good old days" when most of us knew how to live with what nature offered us. Let's face it, how many local butchers do you see nowadays that have (For instance) fresh wild rabbits hanging, hares or pheasants hanging in their windows, not many I'll bet compared to say 50 years ago!
Fantastic film. What a grand fella Ernie was, never get knowledge and charactors like him again.
I have been fascinated by the Norfolk/Fenland way of life for a long time. A lot of it not dissimilar to my youth as my father was a Wildfowler/eel fisherman on similar washes. I seen this film before and although I'm a long way from Norfolk I had a pilgrimage to that special place and with the hospitality of a very kind Norfolk man,I spent the best part of a week doing and seeing amazing things that meant so much to me.Ernie James is a legend as is men such as Phil Gray who is of similar ilk! Thanks for the upload.
I'm so pleased I found this ! I stayed in Welney early 1970 s Old Bedford ,New Bedford Rivers ! There was a store that sold 'everything' ,even a mantle for my Tilly ! Another lovey pub was 'Three Tuns' close to bridge !!!
Thank you for this utter gem of a film. Ah,can we not go back to those times.
We may have to ( blessed are the meak?)
@@patchthesinclair5896 Indeed. Not too far short of the folk I was brought up around as a nipper. I'd go back to that way of living in a heart beat. Like you say, we may have too. Personal perspective I guess.
@@Rameman33 ten different jobs according to the season of the year!
That is living by the moon seasons and not as a servant of the sun dial.
I have lived largely by seasons and have been the baby boy of the last generation to have worked with a horse for transport, to have memory of the days before a strand of plastic on every beach. It's sad what we have done in the name of progress.
Tell any young person any thing about things that will be lost after us. Any young person that wants to listen.
It could save us from following the dinosaurs.
Thank you for uploading this 😃. Ernie was my Great Grandad!
What a man he was , lived a live we can only dream about
You are very lucky. Make sure you can pass this video on to your grandchildren.
Lovely wish it was like that now, streams and rivers today are choked to death with weed, nobody gives a damn in this day and age. Bring the fen man back I say 🙂
Hello Catastrophe Cats 😺, Thank you for introducing yourself and your connection to this remarkable man and his way of life. What a beautiful documentary. As with a lot of vintage programes I like to try and guess the age and birth of certain characters....With the healthy lifestyle of Ernie's I'm guessing he may have been older than he looks at the time of filming in 1975....could he have perhaps been around 65 - 70 yrs old when this film was made? That would have put him at a similar age/generation as my grandad, who was born in 1905.....I am 46, born 1973 (he was 15 yrs senior to my grandmother). The old brain cogs were whirring then, as you said Ernie was your great grandad! I was just wondering what age you are? (as I find the different generation ages quite fascinating...). Regards Jane p.s. I really enjoyed Elwyn and Django's antics. I too am a cat lover, we have three 😻
Show a 18 year old this its another world.. What a fantastic way it was then sadly never to return and at what cost.
What a thing of beauty! Thank you for sharing
Fantastic these times where the best and thank you for showing us
Real life. Thanks for posting.
Ernie and the film move to a different rhythm. Keep watching for five minutes or so and you become a part of the film.
Greetings from Ireland.thank you for this nice film
Yes, I definatly agree. I have been to Welney before because my family lived there for century... Ernie was my Great Grandad. I was really surprised when I saw this.
Why can’t they make programmes like this anymore.Anglia made some excellent television as did all the ITV companies.Now we have an ITV that just appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Thankyou Wildfowler
I agree entirely with this comment. It's all fake tans and false eyelashes on ITV now. And that's just the blokes
@@paulbillingham4594 😜👏👏
Totally agree Edward ,today's TV I find utterly depressing & peurile .
Old school hard work but I loves watching it
Thank you for this. Good honest hard work and all done in shirt and wast coat etc. A different era, it’s these parts that are sorely missed but there was a hell of a lot of hardships for a lot of people back then.
What a fantastic feature of years gone by i was 7 years old in 1975 as local boy from Outwell how things have changed !!
Superb...Thank you. and I'm happy to report that the pub in the film is still open for business.
"Plastic has put an end to the willow trade." I can't tell you how depressed that simple statement made me feel.
*desire to weave intensifies*
What a beautiful way to earn a living such a shame I bet most of these men have died and not got to pass on there knowledge a true river man I'm not the same person in the close season
True story sir
How fascinating, what an insight into his life and how he used the river!
Never mind the Gym these guys were as fit as a Flea... that was proper work Wow at there age as well !!!
Amazing heart warming documentary of a bygone time
I went to a rural primary school, and we used to visit characters like this, as such by the time I was 12, I understood and was semi competent in most rural crafts, I even knew how to thatch a roof. I then went to a secondary school in a town and struggled with the curriculum, so much so that at 16 I left having not completed my GCSE’s and failed the 4 subjects that I did attend the exam. However I did obtain city and guilds qualifications in craft design and technology. In this mad and very strange world that we find ourselves in, now, where the curriculum is focused on teaching children that they can identify as a tomato 🍅, I feel very strongly that instead, kids should be taught some real world skills like these, where they’d be able to focus their thoughts on being creative, and maybe grow a tomato than identify and become one..
What a wonderful calming and heart warming story. I was 4yrs old when this was made. Brings back so many memories of my childhood. ☺️
I REALLY enjoyed watching that mate ... Thanks
Beautiful - nicely filmed and directed, an important historic record of a sadly lost lifestyle - thanks
A lovely well put together 4 season life diary of a man whose skills are slowly fading into some lines in history books. Thanks for sharing this little escape into the simple but meaningful existence.
What a lovely little reminder of how some people lived back then.Real experts!
Thanks for this wonderful film.
Glad you enjoyed it!
If we could only wind the clocks back.
Be nice mate wouldent it.
This is what we have lost.
Thanks for uploading this brilliant film.
Wonderful film thanks
Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you for uploading this wonderful film.
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.
beautiful thanks for posting
What a wonderful documentary 👍
What an absolute gem....... thanks for this
Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing this, it's marvellous!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it Anthony!
Beautiful old school and a dream that I would love to have had. If only I could do it. Love it
If You want it then You can have it.
What a fabulous find on RUclips, thanks for sharing some great history
Glad you enjoyed it!
What an enjoyable half hour.
Wow, I enjoyed this film, but hearing Ernie James's outlook on it all at the end really puts a cap this whole experience!
Seeing this makes you realise just how much knowledge and traditional skills are lost and how much we destroy with our lack of sustainability
I don't know if it's rose tinted glasses or not, but I feel I've lost something precious when I look at these not too old documentaries.
Great I can't stop watching it I've got to visit the pub when I get down that way ,my uncle had a farm at Newbrough many years ago
this is a wonderful film about wonderful people who lived and breathed the fen lifestyle,,,the only thing i find hard to grasp is the "conversation" with someone four miles away!,,my point being,how ,back then ,would they know if someone was opening a conversation.!!
Marvellous film, so enjoyable.
This film put me much in mind of Colin Willock’s writing and television work that enthralled me in my youth. Thank you for sharing this.
Glad to hear this. I never met Colin but he was a close friend of my father and grandfather.
I had wondered about a connection. Thanks for the confirmation. There was a certain kind of countryman/sportsman/naturalist/writer/broadcaster that enriched many of us years ago and are sorely missed. I think of Colin Willock, Oliver Kite, Richard Walker, Clive Gammon and many others whose work opened my eyes and taught me so much. I’m afraid that Countryfile’s excited content for short attention spans simply does not cut it for me! Keep up the good work.
@@phph1731 I used to love watching Jack Hargreaves. Wonderful programmes that are now on RUclips!
James Smart was my Gt Grandfather and my Gt Uncle Hargie, James' son, was a great friend of Ernie James...
And?????
@@AwesomeAngryBiker I get the feeling you don't socialize well .
Lovely film and documentary.
What I like best about this is actually the music, and the fact that every single piece is listed in the description!! Thanks so much! I’ve never heard of Moeran, but he’s on my list to listen to bc I really enjoyed his pieces included here! And, I’m not an overly nostalgic person, bc I know that there really aren’t any “good old days.” When people begin romanticizing the past, they forget what was going on in the world at the time, and really what hard physical labor-for men and women-really feels like. When the past seems extremely rosy to people, I’ve always felt it’s bc they’re allowing their minds to grow old, receding into the past instead of grappling with today.
Oh gawd.. not the old 'rose tinted ' routine.. Of course there was hard work you daft bugger, you think life should end up merely wrested like a chocolate truffle from a box? They expected hard work, but it gave meaning to existence.. it WAS existence. They weren't jaded moderns who have to wheel out the rose tinted cliche.
“No good old days” is just a lie we tell ourselves to help us cope with the emptiness of modern life.
Loved every minute
Wonderful listening to that Norfolk accent.
Not in Norfolk
A gem. Kept and preserved with pride.