General Chat

The castle is lovely Carole, lucky you for living so near. We have a hop museum not far away from me, I always intend to go, but never do. I'll make an effort this year as you never know I might find a photo of my Nan there, or the farm :-D

Yes Lynda, the castle was one of my childhood play areas.

We lived opposite the local pub, they turned the village hall into a 'Hopper's Inn' and I remember watching out of my bedroom window as some, with a few too many hop's inside them, danced and sang on the village green.

We tracked our years by the work done, not the months

Hill pegging
Stringing & banding
Hop training Firsting
Hop training Seconding

Heading
Picking
Bine Cutting
In the Oast - mending the pokes returned from the brewery & blanket stitching the side that they had cut open.


If asked when my Birthday was, Dad's reply was always "The day the Hoppers went home 19**"

:-D

Times HAVE changed, indeed, I have some old photos of the street l lived in near west ham speedway stadium. only two vehicles parked at the kerb ,

1 delivering to a greengrocers,
and a short distance away, A motorbike!

I never went with the lorry Bob, as Nan went for 6 weeks or so I think, my Dad had a car, which was quite rare then, so we just used to go down for days, in fact I have a photo of the car, parked in the middle of London, with not another car in sight, how times have changed :-D

;-)
@Lynda~ Bob, we never went to the pub, the pub went with us

you must' ve had a bigger lorry than us.......

did you all fit into a lorry with set up to sit on and look out of the back as you went along? I doubt you'd get away with that these days.........

No idea who nicks time Jean, but I'd like them to give me some of it back :-D

Les, the London smog, now there's a memory, used to get sent home from school when it was really bad, I used to feel my way home, you couldn't see a thing, just white in front of you, eerie wasn't it :-)

There was always a pot of something or other on the the go jgee, never knew what it was, it was probably breakfast, lunch, and dinner aall rolled into one, but it tasted just fine to us :-D

Mom took a few bits Lynda.. but big metal box which mom called the hop box had lots of food in it and was our table..... children had to go to school then nearby my brothers went ..but they wouldnt have me ..it must have been the only time i didnt mind be covered in psoriosis ..i was so happy ..mom told them it wasnt contagious to.. and i can remember trying to do a big pot of oats lol..it was all gooey ..last time i went i worked in the new hop machine sorting the leaves out from the hops ..

Bob our pub at dilwyn was the bush..the other was the trumpet at ledbury..

jgee..

Lynda,,,I agree with you...HOW DARE YOU GEORGE!!!!! Dirty old London indeed!!! Until you've walked to school or anywhere in one of those famous London peasoupers you haven't lived....Fresh air---who needs fresh air??? The stuff in that smog killed any germs..( Mind you,,it nearly killed you as well)...
Come on Lynda,,,,," Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner""""... Don't miss it really...Been in the Oxfordshire country side for 63 years now... LES...

I was born and lived in Glasgow till i was about 8 years old and remember going raspberry picking with my Mum , sister and all my cousins .Us kids used to sit in the middle of the fields and eat most of the raspberries we should have been putting in the little boxes we were given.
I remember we used to sleep in the big huts also with corrugated roofs, we had great time as far as I can remember, this must have been about 60 years ago now .
Where does the time go.
I now go with my grandkids to pick fruit and veg but it's a bit upmarket to how we used to do it .

jean

Bet that was an interesting childhood Carole, were you near to Bodiam Castle ?

Jo, I'm sure you'd of loved it :-D

Jgee, I'm sure my Nan took half her house with her, all on the back of a lorry. A few years ago, when I was in Cuba, I was reminded of hop picking, when I saw a lorry full of furniture, all tied down with string, they were moving house, but it brought happy memories back of hopping :-D

Bob, we never went to the pub, the pub went with us :-D

And not forgetting the inevitable local pubs..........there was always a BULL,

wasnt there?

last time I went, Poppa Piccolino was one of the pop songs always on the radio.....

Lynda..i spent many years hop picking ..even the fruit picking .. those were happy days for me ..mom used to sew army blankets together and pack them with straw for a mattress then puut bales of hay all around it..straw in pillow cases..so many happy memories in Hereford loved the way we cooked on the devil outside .. all the lovely walks up the lanes ..

jgee

Never went myself Lynda nor any of my family. Lots of people where I lived used to go every year and was very disappointed my mum wouldn't let me go with them :-(

I was born & raised on Guinness Hop Farm at Bodiam.

I remember my Dad going off to our little station to meet 'The Londoners' with his tractor & trailer. Some of them came from Stepney.

Every year the huts were opened up, checked & whitewashed, a huge piles of hay bales & firewood shipped onto the site.

Could be Lynda :-) :-)

George :-)

I wonder if it's just in the blood George? I have generations of London ancestors, so perhaps it's just "in" me, not complaning though :-D

I was born in London as well, Maida vale area but not a London lover.
It wasn't too bad where we lived, we had Regents park near by, Lords cricket ground, Hyde park, but still didn't like London.
Moved as soon as I could to the country.

George

Dirty old London ! How very dare you :-D

I grew up playing in bombed houses, absolutely loved it George, I love the Country too, but I am a City girl at heart :-D

Must have been great as a child getting away from dirty old London.
the freedom of being able to run in the fields, brilliant.

George :-)

When we used to go and see my Nan while she was hopicking, there were loads of us cousins, who met up there with our Mums and Dad's, I remember bunk beds, corrugated roofs, where if it rained it sounded like thunder on the roof, and the sense of freedom, running around the fields, so far removed from the inner City of London.