This week The English Apple Man will concentrate on The Kent County Show and Blackcurrant Picking at Horsmonden
On Friday 11th July, the first day of the Kent Show The English Apple Man spent a few hours visiting some of the exhibits and catching up with old friends; the first just as I had passed through the show entrance. "Hello Mr Apple Man" came a voice from behind me; must have been the distinctive 'rear view' of the hairline she recognised, on turning I spied Sarah Morgan - Head of Faculties at Hadlow College.
After walking through the Flower Tent marveling at the displays, Sarah drew my attention to the 'Magic Roundabout Display.
This was the Hadlow College exhibit created by staff and students from the Faculty of Landscape, Horticulture and Design of which Sarah Morgan is Head; Floristry is also part of the Faculty and they created the splendid characters.
'The Magic Roundabout' won a Gold Medal and it took me back to my younger days when I would come in from the farm, just in time to watch The Magic Roundabout with my son and daughter. These were transmitted just before the early evening news between October 1965 and January 1977 so my children; born in 1966 and 1968 were very young at the time.
Truth be told, I fell in love with the narrator Eric Thompson's brilliant storytelling (the gentle inflection) delivering the simple stories daily for 5 minutes at 5.55pm before the BBC News.
Eric a distinguished English actor who married actress Phyllida Law, was best known as the narrator of The Magic Roundabout, for which he wrote the English language scripts, using the visuals from the French Le Manège Enchanté.
Eric (father of Oscar winning actress Emma Thompson and her actress sister Sophie) made Dougal, Brian, Ermintrude, Dylan, Zebedee and 'human' characters; Florence & Mr Rusty come alive with his 'unique' narrative.
Hadlow College 'Magic Roundabout' exhibit at Kent County Show
My next visit was to The Cherry & Soft Fruit Show Tent, where superb entries of Cherries, Strawberries and Raspberries competed for numerous trophies.
Below left: One of the Cherry classes. Below right: Apricots
Below left: Winning Raspberry entry. Below right: Strawberry entries
Cherry & Soft Fruit Show Trophies - centre; the Trophy flanked by red certificates is for Brian Piper's trug of cherries voted Best in Show.
KCAS Awards to Agricultural workers for long service.
One of the very nice traditions I managed to witness was the presentation of 25 year service awards. Two were of particular interest to me; Richard Brightman received his award for 25 years service with J.L.Baxter & Son and John Caddick for his 25 years with J.Ralph.Stevens.
Below left: Richard Brightman receives his award from KCAS Director John Coultrip. Below right: Richard poses proudly with his employer Clive Baxter
Below: John Caddick and his wife with Ralph Stevens
My particular interest in these two award winners is my long association with both Clive and Ralph. I knew Clive's father very well and had enormous respect for him; Clive has progressed the family business (J.L.Baxter) massively over the years and it is not possible to do that without the mutual respect between employee and employer.
Ralph was grubbing old orchards for my father when I first met him (Dad died 39 years ago) and played a role in my life, as I in turn 'remodeled my orchards. He is a great character, and like Clive and Richard, enjoys an equally loyal relationship with John Caddick.
Congratulations to Richard and John!
KCAS Members Area - ASTOR Building - Hadlow College Reception
At 3.30pm The English Apple Man joined fellow guests at a Hadlow College Reception where a presentation by Michael Bax (Chairman) reviewed the progress of Rural Plc (Kent). Additional comments from Mark Lumsden-Taylor (Hadlow College) Charles Tassell (WFM/NFU) and Rob James - Technical Director, Thanet Earth completed the progress report.
The announcement of a new initiative: Kent Rural Careers - Growing and Nurturing Kent's Future features a new Careers Website designed to match applicants and vacancies is an exciting opportunity for job seekers in Kent.
The system; developed by a Kent based company, identifies possible careers under six major categories: Animal Health & Management; Sales & Media Opportunities; Management, Consultants & Administration; Engineering, Machinery & Technology; Woodland, Countryside & Landscape Management; Food Production & Hospitality.
The website identifies 165 different 'searchable' careers within the six categories and provides salary ranges, qualifications required, et cetera. Each role has a brief description and space for 'signposting' to other organisations for additional information.
Using 'algorithms' the system matches careers to users who take a 'quiz' or opt for the 'Tell us a bit about you' section. Rural Plc (Kent) is conscious that any digital medium needs to be fit for purpose and engage young people.
Those using the website will be asked to tick whether they are interested in a particular career and this will then be forwarded to the relevant career advice service or further education facility.
The data for the website will subsequently form the foundation for an app for Apple and Android devices; The app will encourage users to share results via social media.
Local businesses and enterprises will be able to log into the system and 'post job vacancies' using a simple online form. The information will be displayed clearly and simply and include details of where and how potential applicants can contact the business. This will trigger an email to the contact name for the job vacancy.
This is an innovative, far-reaching opportunity to link young people with potential employers.
Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, director of human capital on the Rural Plc (Kent) board
comments 'Our rural industries need to attract bright, motivated, career-driven new entrants. The website is a wonderful tool that reveals the vast range of careers offered within the sector. It will inform, help and guide young people, parents, careers advisors and everyone who has an interest in rural employment.
Charles Tassell, Rural Plc (Kent) director, ex NFU County Chairman and farmer, comments: The Kent Rural Careers website is a hub of information provided by experts so young people can search and find possible career paths. There is a huge range of industries, from research and development, production, manufacturing, marketing and finally retail.
Young people may not realise there are so many choices for careers and jobs associated with food and farming. This website will help navigate the opportunities, salary ranges, skills and qualifications needed.
Rural Plc (Kent) believes that providing information and encouraging young people to investigate the careers potential offered within the land based sector will trigger growth throughout the rural sector.
Click on: Rural Plc (Kent) to gain an in depth understanding of Kent Plc (Kent) objectives.
Blackcurrant picking in Horsmonden
Last Saturday, The English Apple Man visited good friends Clive and Richard Edmed at their farm in Horsmonden in West Kent. The objective; to watch something that was part of my youth, but is now very rare; 'hand picking' Blackcurrants. The Edmeds are probably one of only two growers still picking by hand into punnets for Supermarket customers.
Clive told me it is very much 'a niche' market and even that can be volatile, as it only needs one retailer to stop the line (Blackcurrants) and "we can be hunting for an outlet.
As mentioned it takes me back to my first summer after leaving school in 1958; Dad grew 6 acres of Blackcurrants for Beechams (Ribena) and circa 30 'old and some young ladies' were employed on a 'piece work' basis to harvest the currants over a two week period. I said 'old ladies' in truth as a 16 year old they seemed old, but most were only in their late thirties!
Back then in 1958 the thought of a machine to pick currants was only a dream. It was many years before the first Blackcurrant Harvesters took on the role of harvesting for the likes of Ribena. Now it is 'decades' since they became the norm!
Clive Edmed employs pickers from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and (encouragingly) there are a few English pickers, to pick the fruit, which is picked to a very high standard. All fruit (even a single berry) must have a stalk attached and the colour must meet specification; the odd, dark red berry is acceptable because it will continue to ripen but no green fruit is allowed.
Finished pack weight is normally around 125 grammes (it may vary by customer) and currently Edmed's supply Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado.
In the pictures below; the blackcurrants are picked directly into the punnets in plastic trays, then taken to the weighing point where Zorri checks the quality and weighs the tray for optimum weight; any excess volume is returned to the picker,
Once a pallet is full, the fruit is transported to the 'on site' cold store where it is chilled before it is taken to the packhouse for QC weighing and labeling before dispatch to the final customer.
The varieties have changed a lot since my days back in the late 1950's; then we grew Mendip, Baldwin and Wellington xxx.
Now Clive Edmed grows Ben Connan and Ben Lomond with some Big Ben (a specialist variety for the fresh market) which comes earlier than Ben Connan. at this time there are 15 acres in crop yielding about 50 tonnes with some young bushes planted but not in production. Clive said they have picked 60 tonnes in the past.
Each tray holds 4 kg and 50 tonnes equates to approximately 12,500 trays picked over a 3-4 week season.
Commenting further on Big Ben, Clive said it is a big berry with a sweeter taste and crops about 2-3 days before Ben Connan.
Agnes busy picking Ben Connan at Horsmonden on Saturday
Below left: Bart a very charismatic young man busy picking blackcurrants. Below right: Trays arriving at the weighing point
Below left: Zorri checks the quality and weighs the trays to ensure compliance with customer specification. Below right: Clive Edmed takes a pallet of Ben Connan to the cold store.
Below: Ben Connan as picked and the finished article - on display in Tesco today.
Finally, as I was writing the later stages of this week's Journal, Sophie Thompson; daughter of Eric and sister of Emma won the BBC Celebrity Masterchef Competition!
It was only tonight, as my wife sat gripped by 'Masterchef' excitement that it 'dawned on me' that Sophie was the 'Sophie Thompson' distinguished actress and now Celebrity Masterchef Champion!
That is all for this week; next week The English Apple Man will report on Fruit Focus which will be held at East Malling Research on Wednesday 23rd July.
Take care
The English Apple Man