In the hop country

The following article was first published in ‘The War Cry', June 24, 1978

For London's East Enders, until [the 1960s], hop-picking in the Kent fields during August and September was more than just a working holiday - it was part of their way of life. The only ‘holiday' many of them would get, it was eagerly looked forward to from one year to the next, despite the primitive conditions and hard work involved.

Because of those conditions, and because Salvation Army officers aim to share the lives of those whom they serve, The Salvation Army went to the hopfields, too. This supplement, in words and pictures, tells the story of the Army's half-century of service to the hop-pickers, from the post first world war years of the 1920s to the 1960s, when machines took over the job of picking hops from the vines.

The Salvation Army officers involved in the work were mostly those serving in ‘goodwill' appointments in the London area. When the late summer arrived the areas around their goodwill centres would suddenly become deserted, with the departure of the people to the hopfields. And so the officers would leave, too, accompanying their ‘flock' to temporary ‘pastures new'.

For some goodwill officers the operation began by catching the last bus of the day to London Bridge railway station to help the people who were travelling on the very early morning trains which were run specially for the hop-pickers.

The officers would spend the night on the forecourt of the station where the people were sleeping on the ground by their carts and prams, which were loaded with all kinds of equipment, including bedding and cooking pots - as well as cages containing canaries, cockerels, cats and dogs!

Luggage

The station was opened at 3.30 am, when the officers helped the pickers on to the trains - particularly those with babies and very young children as well as mountains of luggage. The officers then travelled with them to the Kent hopfields which were to be their home for the next few weeks.

For some of the officers, home during that time was Sunshine Lodge, a large cottage in the village of Yalding owned by the Army. At other times of the year it was used for holidays and week-end breaks for deprived people, but in August, September and occasionally into October it became the headquarters of the Army's services to the hoppers.

The officers who stayed at Sunshine Lodge ‘worked' three neighbouring farms, and a further four farms were worked by officers who lived in huts on the sites.

Some officers, too, were ‘billeted' with local people. One officer remembers staying with the village postman and his wife in their thatched cottage. ‘The food was good - occasionally a caterpillar was boiled with the cabbage, but I usually twigged the beastie,' she recalls.

The day's work - for hop-pickers and Army officers alike - began at 7 am, when the pickers reported for work in the fields. Before the Salvationists arrived on the scene, the mothers among them used simply to lie their young babies down anywhere in the field on sacks while they and the rest of the family picked all day to earn as much as possible.

Then the Army arrived and began operating crèches for the young children. In the early days these consisted simply of beds made from hay bags supplied by the farmers, but later the Army provided large tents and folding cots.

The babies and toddlers - up to 40 or so at most camps - were left in the care of the Army from 7 am until around five or six in the evening, and during that time it was a full-time job just keeping them fed and clean. But even when they had eventually been collected by their mothers, work was not over for the ‘nursemaid' officers, who were then faced with the day's supply of dirty nappies to wash.

It was not only the nappies that the officers washed, though - but the children, too. With very primitive washing conditions at most camps the hot baths offered by the Army were a godsend to the parents, who jumped at the chance to have their children bathed at a penny a child - three for tuppence if the belonged to the same family!

Bath night

At some camps boys were bathed on Friday nights and girls on Saturdays, while at others Friday night was bath night for all - ladies first, of course.

Because it was such a mammoth job fetching the water for the baths and then heating it in boilers heated by sticks before ladling it into zinc baths - also carried on site by the officers - each bathful of water had to be shared, successively, by a number of children. The rule was ‘cleanest child first', which led to much scrubbing of faces with handkerchiefs by children anxious for the cleanest, and hottest, water.

Refreshments

Another great service offered by the Salvationists was refreshments for the hungry and thirsty workers during the day. These were carried round the fields in makeshift carts pushed by the officers, who supplied tea and cake at nominal price.

These refreshments were provided morning and afternoon and were greatly appreciated by the toiling Londoners. So, too, was the medical service provided by the Army - often the only such service provided, though three camps had visiting doctors, each with an Army officer appointed to him as a nurse.

At each camp the Army operated a first-aid hut, manned by an officer qualified in first-aid. In addition to emergency treatment at any time the officers also held daily clinics, at which stings, burns and cuts were the most frequent ailments treated.

For the officers themselves, the greatest medical problem was swollen feet - due to wearing Wellington boots most of the time, for shoes were of little use in heavy, wet clay.

For the hard-working officers the day rarely finished before 11 pm, for they were always mindful of the need to continue their spiritual ministry among the people they so willingly served, and early evening meetings for the children were followed by camp-fire meetings at which the adults gathered to sing and to hear the gospel story.

Emergencies

In addition to their regular duties the officers were on 24-hour call for any emergency. These often involved coping with deaths among the pickers, at which times the Army usually took care of all the arrangements, including dispatching officers in London to pass on the sad news to the relatives left behind.

On one occasion an officer met a gypsy family, obviously very upset, pushing a pram. The pram contained the body of a small child who had fallen into the river and drowned.

Coffin

The parents had no idea who to approach, but the Army made all the arrangements for them. Two young Lieutenants subsequently carried the small white coffin to Yalding churchyard, where the National Goodwill Secretary conducted the funeral.

Many other incidents could be mentioned - some much happier, including the dedication under the Army flag of a whole family of gypsy children - but the people were never allowed to forget that all that was done for them was done in the name and for the sake of the Lord Jesus.

In the early days the families picked the hops for 21/2d a bushel; later they received 6d a bushel. Part of the accepted ‘programme of events' was a hoppers' strike halfway through the season. It always ended with a rise for the pickers - no doubt budgeted for at the beginning by the farmers - but its most valuable benefit was a brief ‘holiday' respite for the workers.

Drink

The hoppers were not usually paid until the harvest was safely gathered in, though, ‘subs' could be obtained from the farmers. Much of this was spent on drink at the week-ends, when relatives came down from London and drunkenness was the order of the day - even sometimes for small babies, given drink by their parents.

In the late 1960s there were still some Londoners who were privileged to go ‘hopping'. These were usually members of families known to the farmer for many years - the ‘elite' of the hopping fraternity who were specially chosen for the job.

Nowadays, however, machine rule the hopfields, as they do in most industries, and machines have no need of tea and cake, hot baths, ointment or sympathy, so the Army uniform is no longer in evidence there.

But the Army's contribution to the welfare of the hoppers is still remembered with gratitude by those involved. For, once again, where there was a need, there was The Salvation Army.