Some members of our Probus who spent their childhood holidays on the hop farms remember the holidays with fondness, remembering the sunlit days picking the hops from the vines and spending the evenings with all the other hop pickers around bonfires with their parents downing flagons of ale and singing traditional songs. Others remember days of endless rain, squelching through mud to pick the hops, sleeping in leaking huts, trying to cook meals outdoors in the rain and the pitiful wages they received. The grape pickers in the “Grapes of Wrath” didn’t know how lucky they were.

As well as the traditional beers, Shepherd Neame produce lagers under licience, some of them being exported back to their country of origin. We all had a thoroughly enjoyable day visiting the brewry and the town of Faversham, another success for our out outings organiser Stan Rogers.

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