DURING the war, people were allowed to keep two pigs for their own consumption. Any more than that had to go to the bacon factory.

At Brompton, near Northallerton, my uncle kept pigs and I often went from York and fed them when I was big enough. He kept two for their own use in a separate sty and they were always the biggest. He always killed one in November and my mother sent me with a basket. Another uncle worked at the VOM bacon factory and had a stun gun. The pig for killing was put in a separate sty and stunned. Then it was strung up by its back legs, its throat cut and the blood caught in a bucket for black pudding. It was cut up, saltpetre rubbed into the skin and the bits for immediate use kept separate while the hams, sides and back were wrapped and hung to mature. I returned home with a full basket to feed the rabbits we kept for eating.

George Appleby, Clifton, York.