East Garston

On July 31st, when being a fifth Sunday, it was East Garston’s turn to host worship for all three parishes, we were pleased to welcome friends from Lambourn and Eastbury, who joined us, especially the choir members who led our hymn singing. We held three short services at different locations in the parish, which were designed and conducted by The Revd Tony Cumberlidge, with the help of material kindly supplied by the Oxford Diocese’s Rural Officer – The Revd Canon Glyn Evans.

Forty people, including children, gathered at the Agricultural Machinery yard of the family business of PJ Smith. We were delighted that Peter and Diana Smith were there with us and their daughter Judith and son in law Keith with their two children.

Keith gave us a very interesting talk on the functioning of the business today, explaining how the business routed in agriculture now focuses also on the racing industry and encompasses assignments much further afield than the Lambourn Valley, including work in London on the 2012 Olympics building programme.

Peter, Diana and Judith joined in the discussion, tracing the development of the business from Peter’s grandfather’s days when Steam Engines, rather than Combine Harvesters were contracted out for harvesting.

The simple format of the services was a welcome and introduction by Tony Cumberlidge, a Hymn, a Bible Reading, Prayers and a Blessing, thought fully modified by Tony, to suit each location.

For the second service, we moved high up to the top of the valley overlooking East Garston, amongst the grain fields of Lorne Hill Farm and Coldborough Farm Eastbury. The view from here was breathtaking and shimmering in the brilliant sunshine. Farmer Jonathan Rabbits kindly deserted his harvesting for a short while and emerged right on cue, from his Land Rover (driven at great speed up the valley) to remind us of the changing farming practices over the years.

While he spoke, as if “to order” (or perhaps it was!), on the distant skyline a cloud of dust appeared and the “Combine” came into view. Jonathan went on to tell how in previous years, the whole village including women and children would turn out to help with harvest. The success of which, would have a strong bearing on how well the village would eat and live for the next 12 months. It was delightful to have Jonathan’s mother June Rabbitts with us for Lammastide, as we remember fondly how her dear, late husband David, had so colourfully enlivened our revival of Rogationtide, when he spoke at the service under the willow trees, beside the river Lambourn at Maidencourt Farm.

Elved Phillips then picked up the story of what happens to the grain nowadays after it has been “combined”. Elved, a former PCC secretary at our Church and now Managing Director of a group of grain companies was ideally placed to follow Jonathan, as for many years he was personally responsible for handling the grain from the fields close by. At that time the fields were cultivated by Farmer Bill Pounds, whose daughter Dawn (Tonge) gave the Bible reading at this service.

Elved very interestingly was able to explain how the localised storage and utilisation of the grain in former decades, compares with the global marketplace in which his companies operate today. Elved then, in line with tradition, presented to Tony Cumberlidge the beautiful Lammas Sheaf, made by Tony Manley of the Chieveley bakery for us. Unlike tradition, our sheaf is now carefully stored ready for our Harvest Festival celebrations on Sunday 16 October.

Our final destination was the other side of the valley to the East Garston Allotments which have only been in existence for 18 months. This is another example of harvest – in some ways reverting to what our grandfathers took for granted as a necessary way of providing wholesome food for their families. Martyn Wright – Treasurer of the Association gave an excellent back ground talk on the setting up of the allotments, how they have developed and what has been achieved.

The desire to grow fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers in this age of supermarkets and fast food, is very appealing and there was a strong demand from a cross section of the parish for an allotment facility even before the Community Plan was published, though it was reinforced through the plan. In early 2010, the land, which had previously lain uncultivated for about 30 years, became the allotments association site.

The winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 have not provided ideal conditions, but the holders have persisted and achieved remarkable results, reworking the soil, adding nutriments, displaying initiative as well as keeping leaner and fitter! The holders and their families have developed a culture of friendliness, sharing plants and growing tips, have demonstrated innovation in the crops grown and flair and imagination in the design of their plots.

There are sheds, pavilions, decking, fruit cages and cold frames, BBQ areas, children’s play areas, children’s gardens (especially Megan’s), arbours for grownups, apparatus to cool wine and beer for evening drinks as the sun goes down etc..... Apart from regular favourite crops, there are asparagus beds, vines, Maria’s aubergines, peppers, fennel, basil, Zak’s artichokes, bee hives and spectacular sunflowers, sweet peas, Jenny’s asters and Vanessa’s cornflowers and lavender together with Betty and James’ windmill, and so on. James aged 4, obligingly wore his bee keeping outfit for us. No wonder that the village is empty of people at weekends – they are all at the allotments!

The other splendid achievement, is the Flower and Vegetable Show that was part of the fete in 2010 and is to be repeated in 2011 on 3 September. The village has been able to witness the level of professionalism as well as fun, that the allotment association has achieved.
In our third service, Vikki Brooks, who is an allotment holder, read the lesson.

After Tony Cumberlidge had given the Blessing at the end of the service, he complimented the holders on their fine achievements and people then could look around the allotments, ask questions and see the output for themselves, before proceeding to the village hall for Lammas Lunch celebrations. We would like to thank Zak Frost who was the original inspiration for the allotments and all the holders who were happy for us to hold our service there and show us round.

The lunch hosted by Tony Cumberlidge can best be described by Farmer’s Wife, Joanne Rabbitts in her letter of thanks to us for the day. “........Lunch was nothing short of splendid and the tables were dressed beautifully. It was a perfect country celebration in an English village on a summer’s day. Please extend our thanks to everyone involved.”

The lunch was organised and prepared by Glenys, Dawn, Ann, Julie, Renee and Ruth. Tony and I thank them for all the hard work they put in to make the lunch so special, not forgetting Ivor and Glenys Denton, who helped us research locations for the second service and who provided the encouragement to go ahead with the Lammas project.
Finally can we thank everyone who came, especially the children, for making the occasion such a memorable one.