Sunderland in the 1970s, a time when children still pitched in with potato-picking

It was hard work but lots of us did it to earn some well-deserved pennies.

We are talking about potato picking and it was a week of hard work on the farms of Wearside.

Out on the farmers fields

But it still brings back memories for lots of people and we are sharing Echo archive scenes.

Here's one from Warden Law in 1979 and it shows Trevor Chesterton, James McGough, Paul Chesterton, Deborah Garwood, Julie Garwood and Louise Eldridge getting stuck in.

These pickers ploughed the fields in 1974 and they all came from the same school.

The workers on a hill top at Tunstall were left to right, Colin Whitfield 15, Ian Henderson 13 and Alan Butler 12.

What did you get for a week of work?

All of them were pupils of Ryhope Comprehensive School.

They were among a handful of people still working after hundreds were sent home by farmers in the Sunderland area.

Rain spoilt potato fields for most of them that year.

Did you go potato picking in your youth? Share those memories of mud, hard work and extra pennies in your pocket - and an aching back.

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