I AM looking for people who left the countryside in the first half of the century to live in towns and cities - for a new Channel Four series about the social history of the British countryside.

Some villages in the 1930s were semi-feudal places and the lives of men and women who stepped out of line and offended their elders or betters could be made difficult.

There were strong taboos on love outside marriage and up to the 1930s women who broke the rules might have to leave their villages.

There was also much poverty in the countryside with agricultural workers being among the poorest paid in Britain.

Every year many country people moved to the towns and cities to look for a new life, more freedom and a better job.

If you have any first-hand stories about leaving the old country way of life during the first half of the century, please write to me.

MARY BEECH, Testimony Films, 12 Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RS.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.