Treats of days gone by
By Reina Free
Some weeks ago, on my usual morning walk, I noticed under the big beech tree that the lane and part of the field were covered with a thick layer of beechnuts that crunched beneath my feet. Memories of my childhood emerged into my mind.
How well I remember we waited in anticipation for autumn. The excitement of roaming the woods, making camps, hiding treasures which frequently had to be dug up and examined and buried again. We collected beech nuts that my mother roasted in the frying pan with butter and a sprinkling of salt – a veritable treat. The chestnuts, roasted on top of the stove till they popped, were really special. The location of the trees was jealously guarded!
Conkers never had an attraction for me, although my aunt had a few in her coat pockets that she believed were a cure for rheumatism.
Acorns were also collected and were sold to a farmer for a few cents a bucket for pig feed. So much has changed. When I see my grandchildren with their laptops, iPods, and playstations, and the choice in foods that in bygone days were either treats for special occasions or unknown, I ask myself are they as happy as we were even during the war? I hope so but I do wonder.
Many changes have taken place since I was a child – some good, many not good at all. A serious one I think is the way young children are introduced into the adult world and perhaps deprived of their right to be a child.
However I am encouraged when I see the children of Lee Common School and the careful and loving way they are educated. The joy they give at the Christmas Nativity, the Maypole dancing at the Church Fête, and the recent celebration of the Harvest Festival. My thoughts wander back to my early days in my village school in Holland. What did I write some time ago about that one grain of sugar put into the bitter water?
Surely it gives a vision of hope with comforting encouragement.
By Reina Free
Some weeks ago, on my usual morning walk, I noticed under the big beech tree that the lane and part of the field were covered with a thick layer of beechnuts that crunched beneath my feet. Memories of my childhood emerged into my mind.
How well I remember we waited in anticipation for autumn. The excitement of roaming the woods, making camps, hiding treasures which frequently had to be dug up and examined and buried again. We collected beech nuts that my mother roasted in the frying pan with butter and a sprinkling of salt – a veritable treat. The chestnuts, roasted on top of the stove till they popped, were really special. The location of the trees was jealously guarded!
Conkers never had an attraction for me, although my aunt had a few in her coat pockets that she believed were a cure for rheumatism.
Acorns were also collected and were sold to a farmer for a few cents a bucket for pig feed. So much has changed. When I see my grandchildren with their laptops, iPods, and playstations, and the choice in foods that in bygone days were either treats for special occasions or unknown, I ask myself are they as happy as we were even during the war? I hope so but I do wonder.
Many changes have taken place since I was a child – some good, many not good at all. A serious one I think is the way young children are introduced into the adult world and perhaps deprived of their right to be a child.
However I am encouraged when I see the children of Lee Common School and the careful and loving way they are educated. The joy they give at the Christmas Nativity, the Maypole dancing at the Church Fête, and the recent celebration of the Harvest Festival. My thoughts wander back to my early days in my village school in Holland. What did I write some time ago about that one grain of sugar put into the bitter water?
Surely it gives a vision of hope with comforting encouragement.