Click HERE for more of October's Calendar Customs

 

- indicates an extract from England In Particular

 

Callington Honey Fair, Cornwall
An annual charter fair dating back to the 13th century, and a magnet for local beekeepers!
www.callingtonlions.org

 

Nottingham Goose Fair
"Nottingham boasts the biggest of all [fairs] - the Goose Fair, held over three days from the first Thursday in October. With 150 children's rides, more than sixty adult rides and 550 stalls, this is a mammoth show that has lost its connection with geese." (From 'Fairs & Fairgrounds', p.153-6 of England in Particular)

"Domestic geese, descended from wild greylags, are hardy grazing birds that resist intensive rearing. Allowed to run loose in an orchard or paddock, they keep pests down and clear up after the harvest. Substantial flocks walked from the East Anglian Fens to London or the Nottingham Goose Fair, with the soles of their feet tarred to save them from wear." (From 'Poultry', p.333 of England in Particular)
www.nottinghamgoosefair.co.uk

 

Pearly Kings & Queens Harvest Festival, St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden (Pearly Society)
"Harvest festival ... in London sees London's costermongers, the Pearly Kings and Queens, process in their elaborate costumes of black velvet covered with patterns of pearl buttons to give thanks for the abundance of fruits and vegetables that they sell in London's streets." (From 'Harvest Festivals', p.219 of England in Particular)
www . whatsonwhen . com

 

Tavistock Goosey Fair, Devon
Records date back to 1105 for this traditional goose fair, which begins Goosey Week.
www.wcities.com

 

World Conker Championships, Ashton, Northamptonshire 10,30-3pm
"The World Conker Championships on the second Sunday in October take place in Rothschild's model village of Ashton, Northamptonshire, with its mile-long avenue of horse chestnuts. It began in 1965, when a fishing trip was rained off. Disappointed, thegroup began a serious game of conkers, raiding the trees on the village green. Now the village is thronged. King Conker, the chief adjudicator, wearing a necklace and skirt of stringed conkers (one for each year of his reign) and hat covered in them, keeps a sharp eye out for malpractice among the crowds in a very English manner (the strict rules now govern the game countrywide). The Conker Club has mapped all of the horse chestnuts in the parish, maintaining an eye on their condition." (From 'Horse Chestnut', p.235 of England in Particular)
www . worldconkerchampionships . com

 

Pack Monday Fair, Sherborne, Dorset
The first Monday after old Michaelmas (10th October), heralded by a midnight procession of Teddy Roe's Band, an alfresco gathering of local people banging saucepan lids, tin cans, and whatever other dischordant noise-makers they can find. This may have started life as a labour-hiring fair, with 'pack' referring to the 'pact' made between farmers and potential workers. However, another story relates it to workers packing their tools and parading around the town after the completion of the Abbey Church's fan vault. Teddy Roe is said to be the master mason responsible for it.
www.sherbornetown.co.uk

 

Falmouth Oyster Festival, Cornwall
"Falmouth Oyster Festival celebrates the start of the oyster season and the diversity and quality of Cornish Seafood and in particular, one of the last remaining traditional oyster fisheries. The festival ..[features].. a packed programme of cookery demonstrations by leading local chefs, oysters, seafood, wine and ale, children’s shell painting, sea shanties, town parade, live music and marquees packed with Cornish produce and crafts. The festival has broad appeal and is a must for all oyster, seafood and marine heritage enthusiasts."
www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk

 

 

21st October

Apple Day
A countrywide celebration of the 2,000+ varieties of apples we can grow in this country. For nationwide event list see: www.commonground.org.uk

 

Punky Night, Hinton St George, Somerset
"On the last Thursday in October, children in Hinton St George, Somerset carry punkies, mangel-wurzel or pumpkin lanterns around the streets while chanting the 'Punky Night Song' and collecting money for charity. This custom is supposed to have originated long ago, when the women of the village, worried about the absence of their husbands, who had gone to Chiselborough Fair, went out looking for them, carrying punkies. Now there are competitions for the best-decorated punkie, and the Punky King and Queen are crowned." (From 'Hallowe'en', p.216 of England in Particular)

Littlehampton Bonfire Celebrations, West Sussex
One of the south-east's most enduring bonfire celebrations, with an enormous seafront bonfire, torchlight processions, carnival floats, marching bands and fireworks.
www.lbs.me.uk

 

British Summer Time ends
Clocks go back one hour at 2am BST and Greenwich Mean Time returns.

 

31st October

Halloween
"The ... Celtic festival of Samhain ... was the start of the new year, the moment of the death of summer and the onset of winter ... The Christian calendar tied All Hallows Eve - Hallowe'en - to 31 October ... This is a time when ghosts, hobgoblins, witches, fairies and demons are abroad, and one ploy persists to frighten the spirits away. Heads with scary faces are made from hollowed-out and carved turnips and swedes, lit by candles from inside and carried as lanterns on poles or long wires. In many places these have been supplanted by the much-bigger pumpkins." (From 'Hallowe'en', p.216 of England in Particular)

 

 

 

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What's in SEASON?

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Fruit, Nuts & Vegetables

Beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage (red, pointed, Savoy and white), calabrese, cauliflower (Romanesque), chard, courgettes, curly kale, leeks, marrow, onions, parsnips, potatoes (maincrop and Pink Fir Apple), pumpkin, squash, sweetcorn, swedes, turnips, watercress.

Apples include: Allington Pippin, Arthur Turner, Bloody Ploughman, Bramleys, Catshead, Charles Ross, Cox’s Orange Pippins, Egremont Russett, Gascoynes Scarlet, Hoary Morning, Howgate Wonder, King of the Pippins, Lord Lambourne, Michaelmas Red, Norfolk Beauty, Ribston Pippin, Queen, Sunset, Tom Putt, Worcester Pearmain.
Pears: Comice, Concorde, Conference. Blackberries, cobnuts, quinces, raspberries, strawberries, walnuts.

The Apple War

The storm troops have landed,
The red and the green,
Their pips on their shoulders,
Their skin brilliantine.

Uniform, orderly,
Saleable, ambitious –
Sala and Granny
And Golden Delicious.

Quarter them, they’re tasteless;
They’ve cotton-wool juice,
But battalions of thousands
Routinely seduce.

 

In shy hen-haunted orchards
Twigs faintly drum,
Patient as partisans
Whose time has almost come,

From Worcester and Somerset,
Sussex and Kent,
They’ll ramble singing,
A fruity regiment.

Down with Cinderella’s kind,
Perfect toxic, scarlet;
Back comes the old guard
Costard, Crispin, Russet.

James Grieve, Ashmead Kernel,
Coppin, Kingston Black –
Someone has protected them.
They’re coming back.

U.A. Fanthorpe

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