Hopping (1902):great storm
Post date: Feb 19, 2012 4:21:54 PM
Extract from Parish mag of Oct 1902:
A dull, cold September, with a continuance of the type of weather that has prevailed during the summer, except that there was, if anything, less rain. Rain fell on 9 days, and in S E. England, generally, the month ends with a further deficiency of more than half an inch (1/2 in.) on the average for 30 years. But the great storm of the 10th, a day or two after the commencement of picking has overshadowed everything in the minds of everyone connected with the Hopping. It wrought it direst havoc in the parishes of Wateringbury and Teston. On one farm in this parish it wrecked both fruit and hops; in two others the loss it caused is very considerable; on all it did much damage. Perhaps the pickers felt it worst of all: many got very wet; a few women went into hysterics ; two or three cases only of anything like serious illness followed. The length of the picking was shorter than on average (17 picking days) by two or three days, but the picking was easier than usual, so many of the leaves having been knocked off by the hail. The time would have been very much shorter than usual if we had had our normal number of "strangers." Last year, a big year, for 310 acres of hops, strangers were picking at 1047 bins out of a total of 1230 bins. This year, naturally a short year, we had only 611 "strangers " bins out of a total of 762.
The mission work went on much as usual, except that the number of out-door lantern-shows was necessarily curtailed. At these shows we had hymns and prayers and showed slides on the Coronation and South Africa. The Sunday evening service in the Church Rooms, addressed by the Rev. H. Farrar (Missions to Seamen) was very well attended. The mission-ladies sent us by the Committee, our old friend Mrs. Riches and a new friend Miss Dixie, worked hard both in the gardens and in managing the Vicarage Coffee-stall. There can be no doubt of the value of the movement organised by the Committee. It has stirred up local interest and activity, and its influence upon the behaviour of the pickers during the last few years has been very marked; almost everyone readily bears witness to it. The Church Rooms in touch with the Vicarage stall were well filled especially on sub-nights, when ladies and gentlemen came forward to help entertain the hoppers. This department was managed by Mrs. Livett, ably assisted for a third year in succession by Miss Marion Curtis, and by several ladies of the parish.
Coffee-stall work is developing. The Station-stall, managed by Miss Lownds, with a paid stall -man (25/- per week), did excellent work on the arrival and departure of the pickers. Willing helpers stayed up practically all night for three successive nights to receive the pickers, and can testify to the value of the work. No less than 16 trains passed through Wateringbury Station on the Saturday night and early Sunday morning, each one depositing a part of its load on the platform. It is difficult to imagine how the children and the babies in arms, to say nothing of the adults, fared on such cold nights, in the days when there was no stall, waiting half-starved for day-light and the weary drag to the gardens. They were all very grateful and very well behaved. At the departure it was not always quite so orderly: our experience is that it is advisable that the growers, even if they have finished picking earlier, should
defer paying-off until after early dinner. For one week, in the interval between the arrival and departure,custom being almost at a stanstill at the Station, the material was put into a wagon (kindly lent by Mr.Goodwin), under a cover extemporised out of "benders" and a rick-cloth, and sent to Canon Court Farm, where it was drawn out oF a shed every morning and located near the pickers. The business done averaged 15 /- per diem among about 120 bins. This appears to be an almost ideal way of meeting the wants of the pickers in the gardens : " it gets the right side of them and keeps them in the gardens," was the verdict of the manager of the gardens, corroborated by the grower. On another farm a similar stall has been in operation for three years, this year under the bailiff's direct supervision, and his verdict is the same.T It is found that the pickers patronise such a stall, if it is always handy, chiefly at stated times—at breakfast, dinner and tea. In very hot weather they would doubtless go to it at other times also. On a third farm the grower tried the experiment of a stationary stall of corrogated iron, and the report is that it was found useful more especially when the pickers were working near at hand. The secrets of success seem to be first proximity to the pickers, and, also, experience in catering and serving. We hope to do better next year.
The Annual Conference convened by the Hop-picking Mission Committee was held as usual at Waterbury in the Church Rooms on the 16th inst., Mr. F. S. W. Ccrnwallis presiding. About 70 people were present, including Lady Falmouth, who thus marked her sympathy with the sufferers from the storm. After formal business, the ReV. W. F. Cobb read a paper on " Some spiritual aspects of the mission." A somewhat informal and discursive but useful discussion followed. The Chairman in responding to a vote of thanks spoke in high terms of appreciation of the work that is being carried on by the Committee and its numorous supporters. The Conference was preceeded by a Celebration in the Parish Church, when the Tait Missioner delivered an address. Let me commend this annual meeting to the notice of our parishioners : I am sure they would find it interesting and invigorating.
We are much indebted to Mr. Revington-Jones and the nursing staff of the "Little Hoppers' Hospital" at Mereworth for taking in two or three bad cases from our parish. The chief value of such a hospital, as the doctors tell us, lies it the fact that it saves life in the early days of the picking, when little ones fall ill, seriously ill sometimes, from the effects of the cold night-journey down from London. The out-patients' department of the hospital was very busy. But that is work that may be done by a nurse apart from a hospital, and indeed it is so done at Teston, Nettlestead, East Peckham and elsewhere, each of which parishes has its lady-nurse supplied by the Hopping Mission Committee. At Wateringbury we move slowly; experience in those parishes has proved the value of a nurse, and I feel strongly that we ought to have one. (I rnay here remind readers that the expenses of all the lady-workers under the auspices of the Committee are paid by subscriptions raised almost entirely outside the hop-growing districts of the County. The ladies give their time.)
The following statement of accounts speaks for itself and needs only one word of comment. The takings at the stalls for the length of picking are greater than last year, and the ordinary outgoings are rather less, due in some degree to the short picking. This has left a balance just sufficient to enable us to purchase a Tarpaulin, saving future expense of hiring, which with carriage amounts to 12/- or 15/- every season. The tarpaulin will be useful also at the rooms during the winter to cover furniture when put of doors—assuming that the subscribers consent to such use.
T. A grower in a neighbouring parish writes—" It is a great pleasure for me to tell you that the Coffee stall in my Hop gardens has worked well and done good work in keeping pickers together and away from the pubs, as we sell meat,bread, cakes, potatoes, apples, sweets, etc.etc. It is quite the right thing to have.''
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HOPPING MISSION FUND (LOCAL) BALANCE SHEET, 1902.
RECEIPTS. £ s. d. £ s. d.
Balance in hand from 1901 0 9 8
Offertories : —
September 16th (Conference) 3 1 9
September 21st 2 19 11
6 1 8
- Rev. A. H. Courthope 1 0 0
- Col. Warde 0 10 0
- Mr. Gerald Warde 1 0 0
.-Mr. A. S. White 1 0 0
-Mr. W. Jude 0 10 0
- Miss Goodwin 0 10 0
- Mr. R. H. Fremlin 3 0 0
.-Mr. R. T. Fremlin 1 0 0
-Mr. Frank Fremlin 0 10 0
- Mr. W. T. Fremlin 0 10 0
-Mr. W W. Blest 1 0 0
-Lady Davies 0 10 0
-Mrs. Lambert Phillips 0 5 0
-Mrs. G. M. Livett 1 1 0
- Mr. Hugh Leney (Dover) 2 0 0
- Mr. Walter Leney (King's Lynn).. 0 5 0
- A Friend 0 1 0
- Mrs. Wallman 0 3 0
- Mr. Tapply 0 5 0
- Mrs. Southwell-Saunder 0 5 0
-Mrs. Henry White 0 10 0
-Mrs. Neate 0 5 0
-Rev. M. H. Boden 0 10 0
-Mrs. Reeves 0 5 0
- Miss Fremlin 0 5 0 (from hop-picking) 0 5 0
17 5 0
Takings at the Vicarage Stall 7 13 4
'' Station Stall 16 4 9
Hop-picking Mission Committee (per Rev. J. E.
Revington Jones , 10 7 0
£58 1 5
EXPENDITURE.
Lady Missioners, Board & Lodging, &c. 10 7 0
Vicarage Coffee Stall & Church Rooms:—
Provisions 5 18 4
Materials 2 1 1
Hire of Tarpaulin 0 7 5
Washing & Wages 2 0 8
Gas 0 17 6
Stationery 0 7 11
Station Stall (per Miss Lownds):—
Provisions 11 2 3
Furniture 4 19 6
Fuel, Basins, &c 1 12 11
Wages 4 14 7
Erecting & removing Stall 1 0 0
Rent of Ground 5 0
Sundries 17 0
Lantern Account :—
Gas, Limes, &c 1 0 6
Hire of Slides 0 11 10
Washing Sheet (lent by Mr. Colby)
and Carriages 0 7 10
Driver 0 5 0
Carriage Lamp 0 5 0
Sundries:—
Conference Luncheon (from Offertory
September 16th) 0 19 11
Restoring lost Child 0 1 8
Medicines 0 4 2
Purchase of Tarpaulin 3 15 0
Rev. J. Y. Stratton (balance of
Offertory, September 16th) 2 0 0
Rev. J E. Revington Jones (''Little
Hoppers'Hospital.") 1 0 6 8 0 9
Balance in hand. 0 8 6
£58 1 5
M. E. CATOR, Hon. Treasurer
G. M. LIVETT, Vicar
Extract from Chronicle, Adelaide of 15 November 1902
A terrible storm devastated many hop gardens in Kent, England, in September.
Hailstones of enormous size were driven with terrific force by the gale, and an
amount of ruinous destruction, which has no equal in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, was caused in Mid-Kent. Hops and fruit were cut down by the hail, or torn off by the lightning, which was very vivid and alarming. Two pickers were struck at Yalding, and one of them was killed on the spot. The produce of at least 500 acres in the parishes of the Farleigh, Wateringbury, Yalding, and
Hunton was practically destroyed, and no less than 5,000 acres of hops were damaged.