THE DIARY OF ETHEL H. RUDKIN PART FOUR 1935-1984, the final part. Edited by Robert Pacey. Published by Old Chapel Lane Books, Burgh le Marsh, Lincolnshire, 2023. 165 pages 40 illustrations, paperback A5 size stapled. This final volume of the diary begins when Mrs Rudkin was about 40 years of age, widowed and living with her parents at Rose Cottage, Willoughton near Kirton in Lindsey. In 1936 she bought a bullnose Morris car but when the war broke out there was no petrol so there were less folklore collecting trips but the bus service to Lincoln and Scunthorpe was regular and carried on so she was still able to go to local history society meetings.
In the 1950s when driving became possible again she became interested in local folk songs and plough jag plays and some of there were tape recorded by Stanley Ellis of Sheffield University. From 1949 she began excavating the medieval pottery Kilns at Toyton All Saints near Spilsby and rented a cottage and a windmill to store the pottery. In 1970 she bought the cottage and had it renovated and moved there, selling the Willougton house. She was still collecting folklore and began doing talks for women's institutes and noting down the stories which she heard there. She remained involved in all these activities through the 1970s, but by the 1980s she was driving less and so the diary has less entries, except for the much information which the many visitors brought to her cottage, and was all dutifully noted down in the diary.