1948: The Whole Family go HOP PICKING in Kent | Newsreel | Classic Clips | BBC Archive

Love it, I live on the London Kent boarder, use London Bridge station a lot. I can imagine my kids face right your annual holiday is hop picking!

Imagine this happening in today's times. Lol

♥️♥️♥️

Slave labour to keep Dad drunk. Old times!

Were these times (at least in some respects) healthier than today's?

I just went on a long walk in the countryside around Canterbury this Saturday afternoon and went through several hop orchards - they haven't changed much in appearance since this video!

I used to live in an old oast house in Kent. Guaranteed most of the "hoppers" shown here would have got off at Paddock Wood and then bussed out to wherever they were working. They often lived in tin huts on the farms (there are a few left at Ightham Mote, where I used to be a ranger) where they were working. The huts were really spartan, with just a wood fire stove, and a few beds and that was it.

My mum was born and raised in Kent, and says her earliest memory is that of being in one of the canvas bags and told to go to sleep. Hops have a chemical in them which makes you sleepy which would explain why she was placed in them. A lot of the hop bines have gone from and they are quite rare to see these days.

Quite of a lot of the pubs and street names in Kent also give a clue to the old gardens, such as Goldings and Fuggles.

little children not in school but in the fields......

I absolutely love that they had their tea while there.
And the older kids helping out with the little ones.
England was so much better then.

The little angel sat in the hop bag moving her arms in excitement is too adorable

West London Chiswick , Devonshire Road/William Street. A relation had an open backed lorry, he and his wife would take us all down to Paddock Wood, leaving his wife with us. Open fires spuds on a stick, black pot cooking rabbit stew. Cant wait for the Fish and Chip van. Tucked up, on the straw the rain bashing off the corrugated roof. Outside the Pub, bottle of Lemonade and crisps. Our own kids gang, didn’t know that East London existed, but kids are kids we all mixed, even with the Gypsy kids , our Chiswick heritage, Hawkers etc . Off scrumping. Being told off for putting leaves in the bin. Whats that your cooking? On the Gypsy fire? First you gut it son , then roll it in clay and when its cooked pull off the clay and off comes the spines? It was an hedgehog. I was not offered any. Mum said if your hungry enough. Off down to Paddock Wood summer 2023, down memory lane.

Cups and saucers for a cup of tea around the campfire. Now that is class!

. I am currently reading George Orwels “Clergyman’s Daughter” which is a detailed description of the work of a hop picker.

So cool to see! I’m American, but my dad is British, born in 1945 in Birmingham (Yardley area)! It’s cool to see a video from way back then ❤

My dad's family used to go every year. They whole street used to go to Kent, everyone looked forward to it like it was a holiday even though it was hard work, it was a break from the harder daily grind in London.

They stayed in tin huts, ate food as a group and the kids all played in the green fields and fresh air.

My dad remembers these times as the best holidays! 🥰

I wonder, was hopping just a southern/London thing or did northerners do it too? I know my great grandparents were fortunate enough to go to Scarborough or brid for a week every year despite being firmly working class (grandad a miner) on a low income. They never mentioned hopping

........ahhhhhh memories are made of this........xxxxxx

Thank God this film hasn't gone through the hands of the BBC. There wouldn't be a white person in sight if it had.

So the kids had to work too and missed school so the family wouldn't go bankrupt? It was a holiday? Wow. Nothing like the bad old days.