We have a long tradition of celebrating and learning about Harvest in the first half of the Autumn Term. I have spoken to organisers, past and present, and dug around some of our old school magazines to find out what parts of the tradition have stayed the same and what has changed over the years.

The school magazine of 1919/1920 holds a description from the boys writing about the ‘first attempt’ in October and that they were ‘not sure how it would go’. A sign had gone up on a board at school saying to bring anything from ‘a pea to a pumpkin’. The boys mentioned that everyone wanted to help, so they brought in what they could. Being so close to the end of the First World War, it may be that harvest deliveries also went to soldiers in local homes recovering from the traumas and horrors of the conflict.

The Last Decade, 2014 - 2024

As a form tutor over the past twenty years, every October, a tick sheet arrived in our form trays with a Harvest Festival list of about 20 items, which tutors then delegated out one (or two) items per boy in their forms to be brought into school during the week of the Harvest Festival. A plain tote-style bag was given to us, and the boys made a coloured label of their form number and a signed card to be pinned to the bag. A named recipient had already been given to the form. At the Upper School Harvest Festival Assembly, the bags were brought down and displayed along with a table of other colourful goods for Harvest.

The bags and goods were distributed to some of the elderly residents of the Kingswood Estate from 2018 onwards by boys, staff and parents; before that, they were distributed by parent members of the ‘Friends Association’. The recipients would have had a telephone call from a parent organiser as early as September with advance notice of what to expect and explaining to expect a knock on their front door on the Friday morning of Harvest week.

After the assembly, the bags were moved and then divided into several groups for boys, each with at least one staff member or a parent helper. The boys then walked around the Kingswood Estate, searching for the addresses in the residential blocks. It was a real pleasure for all involved, with lovely smiles of appreciation and often an invite to ‘come in for a cuppa’, at times dependant on discovering the friendliness level of the resident’s dog.

Sometimes, doors were understandably reluctantly answered, and a shy face popped out around the door before being cautiously opened with a big ‘thank you’. Being part of one of the groups was such a joy, meeting the individuals and couples and hearing their stories of the past year or so. The recipients loved seeing and meeting the boys from The Prep.

Deliveries were also made to the sheltered homes at Balmoral Court and Cedar Close. One of the excited questions asked by many residents on all delivery rounds was, ‘Am I on the list for this year’s Christmas Senior Citizens party?’ Another event clearly cherished by our neighbours.

Things changed during the pandemic because we couldn’t be together, and since then, boys no longer bring in goods from home. Instead, boys and their families now donate money towards Harvest Gifts, which enables a huge online shop and delivery from a local supermarket.

These monetary donations are always so generously given by the parents. The items bought remain similar: non-perishable and consumable goods like tea, coffee, tinned fruit, fish, meat and vegetables, biscuits, jams and honey and other much-needed toiletry items. They are carefully chosen and given without worrying that goods might have been grabbed from cupboards at the last moment with expired sell-by dates. This vast array of items arrives in dozens of bags from the supermarket. They are then divided into individual bags (86 this year) by a team of willing volunteers.

Those regular parents and staff on the Kingswood Estate rounds tell of a real emotional tie to the residents, which becomes very tangible and sad when they find out a regular on the route has died in the past year. There is also the economic realisation that it’s not just the elderly who need help and support. Most people on the list now are some of the many families struggling to get by, particularly with the increased cost of living. As a result, in the last few years, there has been a lot more contact and discussion with the Kingswood Paxton Pantry (food bank) over what is most needed by their residents and donations of goods and money are also given to the food bank. The bags of produce for the Kingswood Estate residents are now taken directly to the Paxton Pantry by parents, staff and boys so that the Pantry can allocate these to those they know are most in need. However, we still deliver the Harvest bags to Balmoral Court and Cedar Close.

Looking Back 40 Years

There are times when a specific cause or world event guides the spirit of charity in a particular year. In 1985, the Prep held its Harvest Festival of Food for Band Aid. Those of a certain age always remember where they were when the Live Aid concert took place in July 1985. (I was taking part in a 24-hour charity ‘Poolathon’ at a pub in Somerset that allowed us to watch the concert in London followed by the one in Philadelphia.)

Instead of the great volume of food donations usually laid out by staff in a display for assembly and local distribution, DCPS joined hundreds of other schools in ‘Schools Aid’ that year. Bob Geldof’s distressing plea and pictures and film from Ethiopia inspired Band Aid, Schools Aid and many other charity appeals. A letter was sent to parents by Mr Woodcock, the Headmaster, and goods were brought to the back of his garage. Then volunteers helped pack the sacks, which were then forwarded to be sent to Africa along with the other nationwide donations.

Looking Back 100 years

In the 1920s, our Harvest Festival revolved around donations of food, fruit and vegetables, which were donated to the British Home and Hospital for Incurables in Streatham. Now called ‘The British Home’. It opened in 1892 on Crown Lane and has been independent since 1948. It now supports people with neuro-disabilities. It has 80 beds each with private accommodation. Princess Alexandra described the British Home as ‘the finest charitable institution’ and one to which she gave her patronage. In 1923, there was no Kingswood Estate; it would have been fields then. The logistics make great reading. One of the staff kindly drove her own motor car, which was probably fairly rare amongst staff at that time, while another drove his sidecar with ‘great skill’. These two vehicles were overloaded not only with produce but with boys eager ‘for the ride and anxious to join in the giving of gifts to the many sick people at the home’. On arrival, the goods were placed in the Harvest display in the home’s chapel with guidance from the Matron and Sister, and then bananas, oranges and grapes were taken around some of the rooms by boys who received a warm welcome from the residents,

In 1929, the Harvest Festival took place on a Saturday, with goods being brought to school over the two days before, no doubt because of their more perishable nature. Goods included apples, grapes, bananas, pears, marrows, eggs, homemade honey and jam, and flowers. The school room for the collection was described as looking like a ‘miniature Covent Garden’!

Many volunteers again helped load a staff car, which conveyed a selection of goods not just to Streatham but also to Kings College Hospital and the occupant of the ‘school’s cot’ there. Being a vehicle down (the popular sidecar) that year, the remainder of the goods were loaded onto a hand cart, which was usually attached to a car for the journey. This time, however, the cart was to be pulled along the two-mile journey via Alleyn Park and up Salter’s Hill, which many of you will know is quite a climb, by the boys. A team of six boys pulled the truck, accompanied by ‘quite a squad of boys on bikes’ on the journey. Once again, the goods were placed in the chapel, and the residents, who were having tea, were delighted to see the boys. The boys delivered the goods with great ‘sympathy and reverence’ before being waved off from windows and then cycling or trundling the truck back to school on a no doubt faster downhill journey!

Just as in 1919, the school’s Harvest Festival only works because of the generosity of the donations and the hard work of the volunteer staff, boys, and parents. It continues to be a much needed, valued, and appreciated tradition and will undoubtedly remain so for many years to come.