This month I feature some images of Harvest Festivals taken in the village. The earliest written records come from the Parish Magazine of 1875, when every harvest was celebrated by the whole village, especially the farming community. It was a time when the whole community helped to gather in the crops. Children were expected to do their bit and half terms were created for this to happen. October was time for children to help gather fruit and vegetables, and there are lots of stories of children falling asleep at their desks they were so tired. The first picture we have of Harvest at St James was taken by Reg Morgan in 1907, and the whole church was decorated to celebrate the feast. This was still the time of Canon Lionel Garnett who had done so much to promote gardening in the village, creating the Village Show, Rose & Flower Festivals and Garden trails. He offered prizes to try to promote his ideals, and there is no doubt that the act of Worship for Harvest was deeply felt by the community. Everyone came, and the church would be full to the “rafters” There were displays of wheat, corn, barley, fruit and vegetables etc, but I don’t think Christleton went in for creating and displaying lots of corn dolly’s as in other Cheshire villages.

The Harvest loaf was always the centre of the village display, and several examples are shown, usually made and donated by Janet Brown, and the example of the Primary School Harvest loaf is shown with the two Joanne’s holding the loaf. One was the miller’s granddaughter, and the other the baker’s daughter. Notice the harvest mouse appearing at the bottom of the loaf.

Tradition is everything in Church Communities, and although the way of celebrating has changed it still has a powerful meaning in our Village. In the 1970’s onwards the food gathered in and donated was distributed to older members in the community in the form of harvest parcels, or bunches of flowers. The Primary School children during my time as Headteacher donated tins and packets, fruit and vegetables, flowers and posies and the whole school walked to church to celebrate harvest. They sang lots of harvest songs and read their poems, and this was always followed by the Church Festival on the following Sunday. All the produce was divided up on the Monday morning and teams of parishioners visited almost every home possible to distribute the bounty to the older members of the community.

Nowadays the emphasis at Harvest is on bringing tins, packets, and other non perishable goods to distribute to the Food Banks or Save the Family. The church is still beautifully decorated and Harvest celebrated as it has been in this community for at least 150 years, and most likely more. There is also a service of thanksgiving at the Allotment at Boughton Heath thanks to Mike and Tina Lightfoot where young people from the Crew Youth Group have led the service. These pictures illustrate the joy felt by people in the community on such occasions. I guess that Canon Garnett’s original ideals really have much to offer us all for the future, to be able to grow some of our own food, and not rely on expensive imports from all over the world.