Hop-Picking
As a young lad, I went with my family to pick hops near Staplehurst village, my cousin and I used to swim in a nearby river that had a bridge across it and arches under the bridge, and the arches were a great place to change into our swimming trunks. I do not remember the location of the river, but recall the happy times we had there, we found a raft that someone else had built, and we had wonderful moments there far away from the streets of East London.
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RE: RE: Hop-Picking
The only river in Staplehurst is The Beult (Belt) and the bridge with the arches was probably at Hawkenbury, a mile or so from Staplehurst on the Headcorn road. I remember eating a perch I had caught there during the war. My friend Herbert Paine and I found a disposable aircraft fuel tank with a hole cut into it to make a canoe. Highly unstable we put rocks and an iron girder in the bottom to jeep it upright. Even more dangerous. Had it tipped over the loose ballast could have shifted trapping us upside down. At that time neither of us could swim.
Comment from Doug Allen on Monday, 31st October 2011.