National Lottery funds new film celebrating British hop heritage

The British Hop Association has announced the screening of a new Heritage Lottery-funded film called Stories From The Hop Yards inspired by a rediscovered photo collection and old film footage.

The film includes photos from a rediscovered collection, taken by local Herefordshire photographer Derek Evans. Capturing snapshots of life from the 1950s and 1960s, some of the images show families arriving for working or ‘hop holidays’ by train, cattle lorry or charabanc.

By day, the families picked hops, and enjoyed dinners cooked over open fires in the evenings.

The film features pickers, farmers, traders and brewers recounting tales of hop-picking days from the past and present.

The feature-length documentary film is the first part of a larger Heritage Lottery-funded project: Herefordshire, Life through a Lens, produced by Hereford-based Catcher Media.

The rediscovered photos are being catalogued and digitised by students and staff at the Hereford College of Arts. The college is also hosting an exhibition of Evans’ work alongside that of its students.

There will be screenings of the film at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms on 3 March and the Malvern Theatres on 6 March before the project goes on tour across the country.

Ali Capper, director of the British Hop Association, commented: “This is an exciting project helping to promote the British hop industry nationally and internationally, which we are delighted to be involved in. It is fascinating to watch the progression of hop farming through the ages and we look forward to progressing further in the future”.

Tickets are available here.