Sir, – I enjoyed George Bridges’s letter (September 19th). It brought back happy memories of picking blackberries as a child in the woods around Kingscourt, Co Cavan, during the second World War. No Celtic Tiger had ever wandered in those woods, so we didn’t know we were poor and miserable.
If we weren’t out early, some other family would have reached the best spots first, but there was plenty for all, as there still is.
As well as pies and tarts, my mother made delicious jams and jellies. How thrilled we were to get half-a-crown a stone from Lamb’s Jams for the rest, good pocket money at the time.
Dare I say it, some of the less scrupulous kids would add a little water for extra weight, and not always from the tap! – Yours, etc,