Child Labour

Even with school holidays timed to suit country life, children had always been in the habit of taking time off school – some with permission, many without – to help their parents and farmers with sowing and harvesting. In wartime the children had an even more important role to play, and extensions to holidays were made on several occasions when harvest of potato-lifting had been delayed by bad weather.
At Marnoch School the head teacher, Lt Bonar Budge – who was an important figure in the Home Guard and Auxiliary Units – proudly recorded that the school garden was looked after by the boys, with the produce being used in the school kitchen.