One of the advantages of having previously volunteered at the Felix Project is that you are first to know when there are some exciting and slightly different opportunities to help. When the call went out to visit a farm in Marden, Kent to go plum picking we couldn’t resist. It’s probably been about 50 years since I last went fruit picking, ending up with belly ache from consuming half my bodyweight in strawberries but undeterred by those memories I set off on a dry, if not sunny, day to get the train down to Marden.

It soon became apparent that nearly all of those getting off the train were volunteers and we ambled the 15 minute walk through the fields to meet up with Kate, from the Felix, for quick instructions and an explanation as to why the fruit was available to harvest and not heading to the supermarkets.

For an explanation read what Peter Hall the owner has to say about the fact that previously his fruit crop ended up losing him tens of thousands of pounds.  “So many fruit growers, both organic and conventional, are facing a perfect economic storm. Production, picking, storage and distribution costs have risen out of all proportion to what retail customers are prepared to pay for the fruit. When available, imported produce can often be brought in for less and retailers drive to maintain their own margins and deliver customer value has rendered my business in its current form uneconomic.”

Peter continues: “I could not bear to see this season’s fantastic crop simply drop on the ground and rot so I invited The Felix Project to harvest what they could and use it to feed those struggling during these difficult times. By great good fortune, we have grown one of the best crops both in terms of quantity and quality for years and hope that this will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship with Felix.”

As is the norm on all the volunteering days there was an extremely friendly mix of young and old from all walks of life and we dispersed into the orchard and set about filling up our fruit picking baskets before depositing them back at the van to be loaded and taken off to the Deptford depot. So nice to chat to the others, finding out why they were there and a little bit about their lives. The time just flew by and before we knew it the call for lunch break went up and we dived into a fine selection of sandwiches, crisps and chocolate. Fortunately the local cider producer was away otherwise the afternoon could have taken a turn for the worse!!!

It appeared we were actually pretty efficient despite being novice pickers and we’d done most of the reachable fruit by lunchtime so it was a quick post lunch glean for an hour or so and our work was done for the day and was time to head home

Oh and how much did we collect? Drum roll please – 1.2 Tonnes of beautiful Victoria plums to be delivered to schools and charities across the capital. Much needed nutritious and healthy fruit to so many people in need of assistance. A great effort and a real fun day for everyone

And that isn’t the end of the harvesting. If you are at all tempted there are opportunities later in the year so sign up with the Felix to find out more.