General Chat

WENT TO THE HOP PICKERS MEET,
BOY ARE THERE SOME CHARICTERS THERE.

IF YOUR FAMILY WERE HOP PICKERS PM ME WE HAVE A LARGE AMOUNT OF OLD PHOTOS
MOSTLY GUINNESS FIELDS NR BODIAM
YOUR FAMILY MAY BE THERE

yep in Ledbury, in the villiage of Trumpet been there its lovely my g grandparents were the farmer/wife there.

yes dizzi.... best times of my childhood ..

mel.. we went to ledbury to ..we used to go to the trumpet to........i was looking there only last week on google map...

the villiage is ashperton .... rimmels farm ..

my best memories are in hereford ... birley court dilwyn....

been to a few at hereford... use to listen to the tales of lying in the cribs when young..lol

Im sure it was Oak Tree farm Joan and a strange thing happened when I got married. I had never been just seen pics, heard stories etc. We had to cancel our honeymoon to Ireland as we had a death and needed to return for the funeral on the Wednesday. I rang up the travel company and they couldn't refun but could offer us a week in Ledbury so we could get bk for the funeral. The owner of the lodge was chatting about the history turns out it was my family sold him the land, but the farm was still ours. We slept where the barns used to be and where 3 gens of my clan woulda slep including Mum during hop picking.

Welcome home Dizzi...........i hope or hop even, that you had a great time............Susan x

Just in case you missed this the first time round.........


Hop Picking
by Evelyn (Marsh) Gilbert

Years ago it was,
With our Dad alive and kicking,
Win and I, Fed up with things
Thought we'd go hop picking!
Arrangements were made we'd go to Bridge
Hop Fields, we knew no other.
Still for our needs it was OK,
It saved us going further.

Off we went on appointed day
With chairs and pots and bedding
A stock of food, and little kids,
Our Household chores forgetting.
I forget which day we actually went-
I think it was a Saturday,
Dad said "You won't last a week -
I'll come and fetch you Wednesday!"

Our tin hut, no home from home,
But just a weather shelter,
In which when cold you'd freeze to death
Or, in heat just swelter!
But never mind! we grit our teeth
And vowed to stick it out,
Up at Dawn and late to bed -
No time to get a stout.

With hops to pick and grub to cook,
The pots and kids to clean,
We had our work cut out for sure,
No holiday makers dream!

True to his word, old Dad came up
In his best 'Bib and Tucker,'
Sat right down and helped us fill
Our baskets made of wicker.
The weather happened to be good,
The old man, he was happy,
Said he would like it fine if he
Could stay - the game old chappy.

Off I went to find the Boss
To see if he was willing,
"All right by me," he kindly said,
"As long as BINS you're filling!"

The problem was, where would Dad sleep?
There were no empty huts,
"Well can't I sleep with you" he said,
No time for 'ifs' or 'buts.'

By this time it was getting late,
We knew we'd have to hurry,
Water to fetch and fire to light,
Before to bed we'd scurry.

So there we were, kids, Win and I,
Straw and bedding sharing,
Till to Folkestone we could go,
Dad's working gear collecting.

Dad had a nasty turn or two.
Which scared us quite a bt.
He wouldn't hear of going home -
Said he was enjoying it!
Well, I suppose he must have done,
We hadn't long lost Mum'
It gave him something new to do,
When all is said and done.

He joined in all the choruses
When we all began to sing,
And he did enjoy his food -
Especially Beef Pudding.

Now the tin hut I have mentioned,
Was only one of many.
More like cubicles they were -
And Privacy? hardly any!!!
The murmerings and 'noises off'
Questionable Entertainment!
From 'CHAMBER MUSIC' in the night
To amorous endearment!

One night a little boy next door
Mislaid his rubber dummy,
Pandemonium reigned until
He piped "I DOT IT MUMMY"

This tickled Dad a lot I know,
He often spoke about it.
In later years, in fact he said
The whole thing - he'd repeat it.

We never went again of course,
Found other things to do.
But we ARE glad we went THAT time,
And stayed to see it through!

HI SUSAN THANKS FOR POEM IHAVE COPIED IT
HAD A BRILLIANT TIME

NNNNNN

We went hop picking when we were kids. We went to Paddock Wood in Kent. It was great, the whole family went and we did have a big family. My nan had had 13 children 11 whom had lived until adulthood and we all used to go there in the 1950's. The husbands used to all come down for the weekend. I remember we had a really great time. We used to go to Tent Common and there were rows and rows of tin huts with straw mattresses but we made them like home from home for six weeks. There were cookhouses too where we used to cook our meals over open fires. I suppose the adults worked really hard but for us kids it was heaven and the only holiday we knew. At the end of the season the farmer used to roast whole oxes on a spit and have a big firework display for the workers. We were all Londoners. The end of season display was on Bell Common and I think that's where the hop picking museum is today. Great memories.

Jenny

For those of you with links to Herefordshire hop picking, there is a great little book with loads of photos.

'A Pocketful of Hops'

I first saw a copy on the shelf of a country pub, when we were staying nearby. The landlord invited us to browse through the books and we were amazed to see what seemed to be a photo of our daughter.
It was in fact taken c.1907 of a girl on a hop farm in a village where I have tracked ancestors back to 1700s.


Gwyn

i'm looking for my father who was a hop picker in 1950 approx. not sure which site he was at, i've been told he was accidently killed by falling off the back of a hop picking lorry

my fathers name was tom ellis sorry i meant to add the above message

how old would your dad have been Jill

His death should show on FreeBMD

I SEARCHED 1948 TO 1952
KENT
SUSSEX
SURREY
MIDDLESEX
BUT NO TOM ELLIS ANY AGE ON THERE

NAME: Thomas C Ellis
BIRTH DATE: abt 1879
DATE OF REGISTRATION: Dec 1950
AGE AT DEATH: 71
REGISTRATION DISTRICT: Dartford
INFERRED COUNTY: Kent
VOLUME: 5b
PAGE: 485

http://www.bygonebodiam.co.uk/

This site has a lot of pictures & facts about Guinness Hop Farm hoppers.

i've just found out that tom ellis was in hereford hop picking sites during early 1950's

sherajess
How old was he when he died?
We should be able to help you find a record.

Have you looked on
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Gwyn

Gwyn - Sherajess has a thread about Tom on Living Relatives

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/living_relatives/thread/1349450