I went on a day trip to pick some hops. Lovibonds' brewery in Henley-on-Thames have an annual hop-picking day in which customers are welcome to help with the harvest for a beer that will be available in a few months time.
It was great fun, and we sampled some fantastic beer on the day too. I was reminded of the Kent hop-picking holidays that existed in Britain before this process became mechanised. People from the east end of London, for example, took annual hop-picking holidays in Kent for many generations.
A British-Pathé newsreel from September 1931 depicts (what it refers to in its title as) a ‘profit and pleasure’ holiday. The farm shown in the film employs about 2000 pickers. Whole families make the pilgrimage including mothers and young children, who in turn chaperone the babies.
These families treat the work like ‘their annual holiday’, with one young woman commenting on the health benefits, rather than the drudgery of the job, exclaiming, “Oh what a difference to London – I’ve come down here to try and get that schoolgirl complexion”.
Further info:
Kerry, Matthew, 2012, The Holiday and British Film, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan
www.britishpathe.com
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