Hopping (1903): garden stalls help change in behaviour

Post date: Feb 24, 2012 9:43:21 AM

Extract from Parish magazine of October 1903:

THE HOPPING, 1903.

These pages were left blank last month, not from want of matter, but from the impossibility of finding time to write it. Owing to the rainy season and want of sun the growers thought to delay the commencement of picking till the second week in September, but a few hot days brought the hops on fast and the pickers began coming down fully a week earlier than was originally anticipated.

The Station Coffee-stall commenced operations on the night of Tuesday the 1st, and was kept open all night for five nights, proving its beneficent usefulness and being openly appreciated by the hoppers. On the 7th it was transformed into a wagon-stall and taken up to Canon Court Gardens, where it remained for three weeks, Mr. Goodwin kindly lending the wagon and a horse to draw it from his stables every morning to the place where picking happened to be in progress. On the 22nd it was re-transferred to the station-yard, where it was open day by day until the 29th, when the last batch of pickers left this immediate neighbourhood.

This stall was served by a man hired for the purpose under the constant supervision of Miss Lownds, who was assisted at the Station when business was brisk by several willing friends, including Miss Alice Goodwin, Miss Smith, the Vicar, and on one night by the Rector of Teston.

Stalls under the direct management of the growers or their agents were established (as last year) in Mr. Fremlin's gardens and at Manor Farm. The latter was served by the bailiff's little daughter, who spent some spare time in picking. This suggests the fact that not so much business was done as at Canon Court, but the bailiff reports that the stall did well, being well patronised, and making a profit of about 25 per cent, on the outlay for provisions, fuel not being reckoned.

At the annual Conference promoted by the Hop-picking Mission Committee, and held in the Wateringbury Parish Church Rooms on the 17th, the question was raised as to whether these garden stalls can be made self-supporting. Our experience goes to prove that with some assistance in serving sufficient profit can be made to pay a man good wages and leave a slight margin of profit; but this assumes that the plant is provided.

Colonel Borton, of Hunton, himself a hop-grower who has established a stall in his gardens, presided at the Conference, and bore eloquent testimony to the usefulness and even the pecuniary advantage of such stalls, quite apart from any question of direct profit. They tend to keep the pickers in the gardens, and to make them feel that their comfort and convenience are being studied, with a result they are quieter and do more work. It is probable that within a few years we shall find stalls established by the growers in most gardens. On the Nettlestead Court Farm a wagon-stall is served by a professional caterer " on his own," the plant being supplied by the grower. At Beltring Mr. E. A. White has this year built a large store, where his pickers can purchase anything that they want. But that perhaps is another matter. To begin with most growers would prefer to set up a wagon-stall to supply breakfast, dinner and tea; and we claim to have proved that such a stall, following the pickers day by day is an advantage, directly or indirectly, both to pickers and to growers.

We also claim that the presence of the ladies who help to serve these stalls and assist in club-rooms,and also of those who work as nurses among the pickers, has done more than anything else to bring about the remarkable change for the better which has been noticed of late years in the general behaviour the pickers. For the success of this movement credit must be given to the Hop picking Mission Committee, whose funds are drawn almost entirely from outside the hop-growing districts, in order that the Committee may not lay itself open to the charge of trenching on the preserves of the Church of England Missionary Association for Hop-pickers.

Little need be said of our own Club-room and of the stall attached to it at the Vicarage. It was ably served as heretofore by Mrs. Riches and Miss Dixie, sent to us by the Committee. They have been assisted by many local ladies, including Mrs. Lownds, Mrs. Neate, Miss Mildred Gator, the Misses Goodwin, Miss Blest, Miss Olive Boden, Miss Brooker, and others. Mrs. Livett, Mrs. Leney, Mrs. Southwell-Sanders and others organised or assisted in giving entertainments to the hoppers, who found in the rooms a haven of rest and a place where they could have their tea, write their letters, read the papers, play games, or sit and do nothing.

The Vicar, who naturally supervised the arrangements in every department of the Mission, organised two lantern services on successive Sunday nights. At the first the Rev. R. Griffiths, deputation from the Missions to Seamen and late a chaplain to the forces in South Africa, delivered an address; and at the second some Scripture slides were spoken to by the Church Army Captain stationed at Teston. The Rev. M. H. Boden and Mr. Hamshire conducted the field services this year, going out seven times. Mr. R. Colby also assisted by taking an additional service.

See also Swiss cottage becomes hospital.