'Schools Out'

K E N T O R C H A R D S F O R E V E R Y O N E

P R E S E N T S

A M E D L E Y O F A C T I V I T I E S F O R K S 2  

D I S C O V E R I N G T H E F R U I T S O F W E A V E R I N G

C O N T A C T U S A T   M A I L @ K E N T D O W N S . O R G . U K 0 1 3 0 3 8 1 5 1 7 0

Kent Orchards

for Everyone

School Activity: Walking Round Grove Green Take part in this heritage play which demonstrates how the history of the local area linking it to the

community orchard

Resources

An orchard (although not necessary, your school grounds could be used)

Script

Costumes

Optional extras such as props

Musical instruments

First aid kit, risk assessment

Rehearsals (4 x 30 mins)

Learning the script

Rehearsing the play

Learning the songs

Learning the dances

The performance (90 mins)

Set up the stage

Arrange all of the props

Make sure that the music is ready either as a CD or and pianist and instrument

Ensure everybody has their costumes

Ensure all instruments are together

Make sure everybody knows their words

Arrange seating for parents

Arrange for photographs to be taken by a dedicated teacher who knows which child has

consent

Ensure children are ready for the production.

Arrange a vote of thanks for the end of the production

Sit back and enjoy

Kent Orchards for Everyone

Heritage Orchard Script - Key Stage 2

Walking Round Grove Green

YEAR SCRIPT

YEAR 6 INTRODUCTION

NARRATOR 1: Have you ever wondered what Grove Green and Weavering Street were like before all the houses were built?

SONG WALKING ROUND GROVE GREEN When I’m walking down the street, I see fields and orchards, gardens neat. I hear the sound of a horse’s feet, Echo through Grove Green. A pony and trap trots down the road, A cart-horse plods with heavy load, A tractor makes the air explode, As it trundles through Grove Green. All kinds of apples are in the barn, Safely stored away from harm, Grown in orchards or on the farm, And in the gardens round Grove Green. The cherry crop was good this year, There were plenty for the market, so I hear, And enough for making cherry beer, For celebrations in Grove Green. The hops are growing on the bine, Winding up the stringer’s twine, They’ll be ready for picking time, September in Grove Green. Cobnuts are ripe down in the plat, In their cases growing fat, Keep them spread out on a mat, For Christmas in Grove Green. The woodsmen they cut back the trees, For fences and for sticks for beans and peas.

They made the hedges that you can see, Dividing up Grove Green. With farm and garden a big house stands, Very fine and very grand, Looking out across the land To Weavering and Grove Green. Are these things all that they seem? Are they real or just a dream? Visions that for seconds gleam, Showing memories of Grove Green?

NARRATOR 2: The houses in Grove Green were built over market gardens, smallholdings and small orchards. Where Vinters Estate is now, there were hop gardens and wheat fields. There were only a few farm houses and cottages and the one long street, which is Weavering Street.

NARRATOR 3: Come with us on a journey around the year to see what life was like before the houses were built, and there was no Tesco’s, crematorium or television studio’s. Our journey starts in the spring.

YEAR 3 SPRING

NARRATOR 1: It is spring. Farmers are ploughing the land and planting seeds. This is an old riddle-song about planting and growing corn.

SONG HEIGH HO SING IVY My father he had an acre of land, Heigh Ho, sing Ivy. My father he had an acre of land, With a bunch of green holly and ivy. He ploughed it with a team of rats. He sowed it with a pepper box. He harrowed it with a small tooth comb. He rolled it with a rolling pin. He reaped it with the blade of his knife. He wheeled it home in a wheelbarrow. He threshed it with a hazel twig. He measured it up in a walnut shell. He sent it to market on a hedgehog's back. He sold the lot for eighteen pence.

NARRATOR 2: Children were given a few pennies to go out into the fields and make a lot of noise to scare away the birds.

ACTION WITH MUSIC

BIRD SCARING - Percussion piece with bells, clappers and pans Chant: Away, birds, away,

Away, birds, away, I’ll up with me clappers And knock you down back’ards, Away, birds, away

NARRATOR 3: Out in the orchards, the trees are being pruned.

DANCE WITH MUSIC

TREE PRUNING DANCE Lines of 3 radiating out from centre. A1. Link arms, forward 16 steps A2. Circle left and right B1. Star right and left B2. Centre person: hands-around to right and left. Four times through. First time, all together. One line taken out on second, third and fourth A1 move.

NARRATOR 4: In the first part of the twentieth century, Grove Farm, and a lot of the land round about, was owned by Miss Louisa Whatman. She had rented out the big house at Vinters Park, which was the family home, and had a new house built at Newnham Court, which she called Newnham Court House.

NARRATOR 5: Miss Louisa was landlord to a lot of market gardeners in Grove Green, and also to the Wingroves, who were tenants at Grove Farm. In the spring, she liked to go round and visit all her tenants. She had a special footpath built from Newnham Court to Weavering Street, which she used regularly even when she was ninety years old, and sometimes she used a pony and trap.

NARRATOR 6: She wore long black clothes and stout walking boots and always looked very stern. When she was invited in to the tenants’ houses, the children had to sit very still and only speak when they were spoken to.

NARRATOR 7: Miss Louisa liked to have a good look at how the land was being used and make sure that, when the spring came, everyone was ready for the new growing season.

SONG: ALL THE LITTLE CHICKENS IN THE GARDEN Chorus: Get ready for the spring time, the days are getting warm, And come the summer you will have a tidy little farm, The cows, the pigs, the sheep, the goats, the stock, the fields and barn, And all the little chickens in the garden. Clear out all the stables, spread them with new straw, Sweep the cobwebs and the dust right out through the door.

Polish up the harness, clean up all the tack, And when you’re done make sure you put some hay in all the racks. Chorus Mend the plough and harrow, paint the wooden cart, When you go around the farm, you must be looking smart. When you plough your furrow, make sure you do it straight, And oil the squeaky, rusty hinge that’s on the five-barred gate. Chorus The cows are giving lots of milk, so make the dairy nice Scrub out all the milking churns, lay traps for any mice. Cut some brand-new cheesecloth, find the butter pats, Find the measure for the cream, and shake out all the mats. Chorus Time to check the beehive. Put it near the trees. Blossom time is coming, bringing pollen for the bees. Give them a feed of sugar, plant some scented flowers, And at the end of summer there’ll be honey by the jar. Chorus Mend the rickety hen house. Check out all the locks. Fix the fencing round the edge to keep out Mr. Fox. Scatter corn and layers-mash all around the pen, And make a box all snug and warm to please the broody hen. Chorus Dig your patch of garden, clear out all the weeds, Rake it over nice and flat ready to plant your seeds. Put in all the cabbage plants, make a good straight row, Then hang up pans to scare the birds, and don’t forget to hoe. Chorus

YEAR 4 SUMMER

NARRRATOR 1: It is summer. Out in the orchards and market gardens, the cherries are nearly ripe. If the woodsmen had made enough money in the winter, they would buy a whole crop of cherries at a cherry auction. They picked the ripe cherries and sold them locally to make a good profit.

SONG RED GROW THE CHERRIES-O Who’ll give me one-o? Red grow the cherries-o. I’ll give you one-o One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so. Who’ll give me two-o?

Red grow the cherries-o I’ll give you two-o Two the cherries on the strig, ripe enough for picking-o One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so. Who’ll give me three-o? Red grow the cherries-o I’ll give you three-o Three, three, the pickers on the steps Two the cherries on the strig, ripe enough for picking-o One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so. Who’ll give me four-o? Red grow the cherries-o I’ll give you four-o Four for the kibsey baskets Three, three, the pickers on the steps Two the cherries on the strig, ripe enough for picking-o One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so. Who’ll give me five-o? Red grow the cherries-o I’ll give you five-o Five for the buyers at the gate, And four for the kibsey baskets Three, three, the pickers on the steps, Two the cherries on the strig, ripe enough for picking-o One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so.

NARRATOR 2: All the gardens and allotments are full of vegetables and summer fruits. Cows and goats are giving plenty of milk to make cheese and butter, and bees are producing honey. At this time of the year, the villagers swapped their produce with each other, and this carried on right through summer and autumn.

NARRATOR 3: Everyone knew that Mrs. Price’s bees made the best honey, and Mrs Maroney grew the sweetest raspberries. Near where there is now a roundabout at the bottom of New Cut Road, was a low -lying field where most people said nothing would grow. But farmer Edward Wingrove grew marrows on it, and it became known as the Marrow Field.

NARRATOR 4: Some of the market gardens grew onions. On some mornings, 800 large bunches of onions went up to the London markets, but there were still plenty left to barter.

BARTERING DANCE WITH MUSIC

Set of 8 dancers. Square set. Raspberries, Strawberries Marrow Cherries, Onions Flowers

Honey, Cream All dancers hold a banner with a picture of their goods. A1. Raspberries swap with cream. Onions swap with cherries. A2. Strawberries swap with honey. Marrow swaps with flowers. B1. Grand chain. (or circle left singly) B2. Promenade in pairs, anti-clockwise. 4 times through, swapping with the same person, and in the same order, each time.

NARRATOR 5: In the 1920s, Sir Reginald and Lady Macleod rented Vinters Park House. In the summer, Sir Reginald used to wheel Lady Macleod round the estate in her old-fashioned wickerwork wheelchair. Every year, they gave treat at the mansion for all the children from Grove Green School, and from the children’s home in the Boxley Road.

NARRATOR 6: The children were given tea in the servants' hall with dishes of fresh strawberries laid out on a long table. Then there were boat trips on the lake and games in the grounds.

GAMES WITH MUSIC

Sally go round the sun, Sally go round the moon, Sally go round the chimney pots On a Saturday afternoon. Jump! (Round in circle, jump, go round in other direction) There come two pigeons round the coo, Round the coo, round the coo, There come two pigeons round the coo Goodbye, goodbye, we all love you. (Arches in circle. Two go in and out. Caught on last line, change places)

NARRATOR 7: At the end of the afternoon, all the children were given a bag of sweets, and the boys had to salute and the girls curtsey as they left. (Salute and curtsey)

YEAR 5 AUTUMN

NARRATOR 1: It is autumn and the harvest has begun. Farmer Edward Wingrove, at Grove Green Farm, grew the earliest field of barley. It was where the houses are now, in Blacksmith Drive.

NARRATOR 2: At a time when there were no combine harvesters, the whole corn-stalk was cut and tied into a bundle called a sheaf. The sheaves were loaded onto a cart and carried to the farmer’s barns. The last sheaf to be cut was tied with ribbons and carried back to the farmyard on a decorated cart pulled by the best horses. The men shouted to let everyone know that the harvest was all in.

ALL SHOUT:

We’ve ploughed, We’ve sowed, We’ve reaped, We’ve mowed, We’ve carried our last load And aren’t overthrowed! Hip, Hip Hooray!

SONG: HARVEST HOME Chorus (after each verse): We’ve ploughed, we’ve sowed, We’ve reaped, we’ve mowed, We’ve carried our load And aren’t overthrowed. We’ve ploughed, we’ve sowed, We’ve reaped, we’ve mowed, And we’ve carried our harvest home. It’s all a-cut and all a-bound, And all is taken from the ground. Summer’s done, the year turns round, And we’ll carry our harvest home. Chorus The final sheaf is cut at last, Bind it tight and hold it fast, Tie the ribbons to the cart To carry our harvest home. Chorus The farmer’s grain is safely stored, The supper spread on the harvest board, The best the master can afford, For we’ve carried our harvest home. Chorus

NARRATOR 3: Up at Vinters, there were hops to be picked. Local people worked beside Londoners, who came down for a few weeks’ paid holiday.

SONG: HOPPING DOWN IN KENT 1 Now some say hopping’s lousy, I don’t believe it’s true We only go down hopping, to earn a bob or two. Chorus (after each verse): With me tee-i-o, tee-i-o, tee-i-tee-i-o. We jump up on the hopper’s train, blimey, ain’t it full, It looks as though the whole wide world is here to pick and pull. Now when I went a-hopping, a-hopping down in Kent

I saw old Mrs. Riley a-sweeping out her tent. Now every Monday morning, just at 6 o’clock We hear the old hoppers calling, ‘Get up and boil your pots’.

HOP PICKER: In comes I, the London hop picker, Come down to Kent to earn a few nicker. We come down on special trains from the city, To pick a few hops in this countryside so pretty. All the family comes here to stay, For a breath of fresh air and the farmer’s pay. We sleep in the old huts and cook over the fire, And we pick hops off the bines till our fingers tire.

POLE PULLER: First I come round, the pole puller, There’s no-one cuts ‘em quicker. I cut down all the bines of hops And hand them to the pickers. They strip off all the leafy flowers - They don’t have time for leisure - And put them into baskets Waiting to be measured.

MEASURER: Then round I come, the measurer With my ten gallon basket. I measure how many hops they’ve picked, So I don’t have to ask it. Sometimes they say their basket’s full And make their hops look fat But I come along and see their trick And squash them down quite flat. But when I see they’re full enough And they can’t hold no more, I tip their baskets into mine And add them up by the score.

TALLY MAN: Then in comes I, the tally man, With my tallies made of wood, And every time a basket’s full I make a mark that’s good. The pickers queue all in a line After work on Saturday, And I look on the tally stick And know how much to pay.

SONG: HOPPING DOWN IN KENT 2 Now when the old pole-puller, when he does come round, he says Come on your dirty old hop pickers and pick ‘em off the ground.

Now round comes our old measurer, with his long nose and chin, And his ten gallon basket, now don’t he pop ‘em in. Then the tally man comes round, several times a day, He marks his little sticks of wood and adds up all the pay Now, do you want some money? Yes, sir if you please, To buy a hock of bacon and a lump of mouldy cheese.

NARRATOR 4: Autumn is fruit picking time. There were apples and pears and more unusual fruit. There were large orchards at Grove Green Farm growing apples and pears. There was an orchard right here where our school is built and another on the Tesco site. Other people just had a few trees in their garden. Mr. Martin, at East Cottage, had quince and medlar trees. Up by the big house at Vinters Park was a large mulberry tree.

NARRATOR 5: We have our own local apple, called the Weavering Apple. It was first grown at Weavering Farm in about 1800. The last of the local trees was at Grove Green Cottage, home of Mr. Belcher. He sent his entire crop to the London markets and he made enough money from them to pay his council tax and water rates.

NARRATOR 6: All these fruits were bartered and you could also buy them direct from the orchards. Filo Evenden, the gardener up at Vinters Park, sold apples, mulberrys, quinces and medlars. They were stored in a large barn and, for years after, people remembered the wonderful smell of the stored fruit.

NARRATOR 7: The Perrins had land next to the old school. They sold apples and pears packed into wooden containers, which were stamped on the outside with a crown.

NARRATOR 8: There were cobnut plantations down the Banky Meadow path, and a lot of people had a walnut tree in their garden. There was huge walnut tree at Grove Green Farmhouse and most of the trees you can still find around Grove Green were grown from cuttings from this original tree.

NARRATOR 9: Hallowe’en is a time for riddles, games and seeing the future, often using apples or cob nuts.

RIDDLES

Round the rick and round the rick, There I met my Uncle Dick. I cut off his head And drank his blood, And left his body standing. (Actions to reveal a bottle of cider)

DIVINING WITH MUSIC

Wish for your true love to be revealed And over your shoulder cast the peel

Turn around and stand and stare, You’ll see your love’s initial there. (Group of girls watch as one of their number throws peel over the shoulder. Giggles when the letter is revealed)

NARRATOR 10: To see what could happen in the future, a group of girls each laid a nut in a row in front of the fire.

DIVINING WITH MUSIC

The first to blaze will be the first to marry. The one that smoulders long will tarry. The first to crack will be left by her lover. The first to jump will roam the world over.

NARRATOR 11 : Who will be your sweetheart? This is the way to find out.

DIVINING WITH MUSIC

To each nut give a sweetheart’s name, Throw them all into the flames. The first to jump is the one for you, He will be you lover true.

YEAR 6 WINTER

NARRATOR 1: All the harvest is in, the weather is getting cold, and we come to winter. It is a time for threshing the corn, mending hedges and fences, and making sure the ditches were deep enough to take away all the rain.

NARRATOR 2: The woodsmen up at Lower Fullingpit Woods, cut the chestnut trees to make hop-poles, fences, stakes and bean and pea sticks. When a large tree fell down, that was too large to saw up, they drilled holes in the trunk, packed them with gunpowder and lit it to blow it up.

PERCUSSION PIECE:

Using instruments to imitate wood chopping

NARRATOR 3: The shed where the woodsmen worked was called the Woodreve’s Shed. It is still there, on the edge of the crematorium land, being used as a gardener’s store.

NARRATOR 4: In icy weather, the horses were kept in the stables, and even farm lorries and tractors were hard to get going. At Newnham Court Farm one driver always parked his Foden lorry at the top of the drive to get a rolling start on cold mornings. At Grove Green Farm, one of the tractors was started by putting a shotgun cartridge in a part of the engine and then hitting it with a hammer.

NARRATOR 5: But the children enjoyed themselves. When the large pond at the top of the driveway at Newnham Court Farm, was frozen in the cold weather, they all went sliding and skating.

NARRATOR 6: And then it was Christmas time. Lord and Lady Macleod would go round the village every year, delivering packets of tea as a present to all the households.

NARRATOR 7: If you were lucky, you might have a visit from the hooden horse, or the Christmas actors.

THE HOODEN HORSE Enter the hoodeners: waggoner, rider, molly, fool, horse

SONG: HOODENING SONG We’re all jolly hoodening boys, We’ve come for your money and your beer. We wish you a merry Christmas time, And we wish you all good cheer. Now here is our horse he’s a very fine horse, He comes from the Saxon fires. So feed him well while we ring our bell, And you’ll get your heart’s desire. Here’s the gallant waggoner, And Molly with her broom, Here’s the rider and the fool, Pray give these boys some room. We’re all jolly Hoodening boys, We’ve come for your money and your beer. We wish you a merry Christmas time, And we wish you all good cheer.

WAGGONER:

In comes the horse and all his men, He’s come to see you once again. He has travelled far and near, From right over there to right by here. He has travelled through the frost and snow. And now to Grove Green he will go.

Enter Father Christmas

FATHER CHRISTMAS:

In comes I, Old Father Christmas, Welcome in or welcome not, I hope Old Father Christmas will never be forgot. There’s a time to be sad And a time to jest. A time for work And a time for rest. A time to be happy

And a time to be free, It’s true enough, this Christmas time, We all so merry be.

NARRATOR 8: Before everyone gets back to work, they have a ceremony in the orchards to bring good luck to the apple trees and make sure there will be a good apple crop next year. It is called Apple Howling, or Wassailing. Wassail is an old English word for good health.

Procession with the wassail bowl.

SONG: YOWLING SONG The moon is up, the stars are bright, The lantern’s lit, the fire’s alight, And we are met in the cold night air, This ancient rite to share. Chorus (after each verse): Apple Yowling Voices howling Success to the Old Apple Tree. Our bowl it is made from the apple tree wood, And bound with silver to make it good, It’s filled with cider spiced and hot, The best that we have got. Chorus We’ve toast for the Robins, so here they stay, And salt to drive bad spirits away, The cider we sprinkle all around, To bring good luck to the ground. Chorus Old Apple Tree, we Wassail thee, May you bud and bloom and bear, That when we come in another new year, There’ll be cider for all to share. Chorus So make your shout and bang your drums, Blow your horns and fire your guns, Make it loud as ever you can, To please the Apple Tree Man. Chorus Wassail, Wassail, we sing Wassail, Good health to all, may it never fail, Take a drop from the bowl as you say, ‘Drink Hael’, And join ion our Wassail. Chorus

HEAD WASSAILER SHOUTS:

Stand fast root, bear well top, God send us a yowling crop, Every twig, apples big, every bough, apples enow,

Hat fulls, cap fulls, bushel bag fulls And little heaps under the stairs. Everyone makes a noise

NARRATOR 9: And then the year goes round again, and everyone gets ready for another spring.

SONG: WALKING ROUND GROVE GREEN Chorus (after each verse): I like to rise when the sun she rises, Early in the morning. I like to hear the small birds singing, Loudly in the hedgerows, To see the apples and the hops When I’m walking round Grove Green. When I’m walking down the street, I see fields and orchards, gardens neat. I hear the sound of a horse’s feet, Echo through Grove Green. Chorus Are these things all that they seem? Are they real or just a dream? Visions that for seconds gleam, Memories of Grove Green? Chorus

Written by Gail Duff for Kent Orchards for Everyone Musical arrangement by Nick Powling and singing by Gail Duff For more information visit www.kentorchards.org.uk Or visit their Facebook page

KentOrchardsForEveryone

Kent Orchards

for Everyone

School Activity: Discovering the Fruits of Weavering

Landscape Learning Outcomes

Curriculum Links: English, Geography, History

Programme of Study

KS1 History significant historical events, people and places in

their own locality

KS2 History a local history study

a study over time tracing how several aspects of

national history are reflected in the locality (this can

go beyond 1066)

Year 1 Word Reading read books aloud, accurately, that are consistent

with their developing phonic knowledge and that do

not require them to use other strategies to work out

words

Year 1 Comprehension learning to appreciate rhymes and poems, and to

recite some by heart

Year 2 Word Reading read aloud books closely matched to their improving

phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words

accurately, automatically and without undue

hesitation

Year 3 and 4

Comprehension preparing poems and play scripts to read aloud and

to perform, showing understanding through

intonation, tone, volume and action

Year 5 and 6

Comprehension maintain positive attitudes to reading and an

understanding of what they read by:

continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide

range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and

reference books or textbooks

preparing poems and plays to read aloud and to

perform, showing understanding through intonation,

tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an

audience

KS1 Geography use basic geographical vocabulary to refer to:

key physical features, including: beach, cliff, coast,

forest, hill, mountain, sea, ocean, river, soil, valley,

vegetation, season and weather

key human features, including: city, town, village,

factory, farm, house, office, port, harbour and shop

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