Local Farmhands
Full time farm workers employed by the “Wallaces” in the hop fields became good friends,
especially Harry Bourne, the Foreman.
He was renowned for his prize-winning cider brewed at the Whitehouse Farm and my
lingering memory was of the unfiltered cider juice dripping out of the press, with its layers
of mashed cider apples sandwiched between metal plates covered in a type of felt.
It was the time of the year
for wasps and they almost covered the press--how adults could
drink the stuff never
ceased to amaze me, but they did and Harry sold some of it from cabin
number two at the Dumbleton
Whether it was “bootleg” is open to question!!!
One
farm hand, called a “pole puller” looked after a number of cribs and he was
responsible
for
moving the cribs into pre-allocated spaces—called houses—and to cut and pull
the hop
wires
(bines)
He
also helped the Busheler to collect and bag the picked hops; to fill and stack
the sacks ready for
collection
and transportation to the kiln
The sacks were stacked on the side of the hop
field awaiting collection by the horse drawn cart
and they proved too much of a temptation for
us kids—when the farmhands were not around we
used them like modern day beanbags
A Busheller standing by the crib with his
pole puller tying up a sack of hops
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Typical scenes, with Farm Hands keeping the Pickers on the move
Towards the end of
the War there was a contingent of
German Officers, they were
billeted at a POW camp
at Pensax and worked in the hopyards as pole pullers
Initially their
behaviour was formal complete with saluting and heel clicking but they
soon became friendly
and on first name terms
There was also a
number of Italian Prisoners of War who were allowed to move freely
around, they seemed to
spend most of their time charming the dungarees off the local
Country girls!
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