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Harting Old Club
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South Harting is the scene
of a gay Whit-Monday ceremony when one of the last surviving
old time Friendly Societies, the 'Red, White and Blue Club,' stages
a traditional 'feast' that may well be centuries old.
It is a day that starts early, and grows gayer and more festive
with every hour. Almost at cock-crow the villagers may be seen
decorating the White Hart with beech boughs, after which they
proceed to the square to set up and adorn with red, white and
blue streamers the largest bough of all.
Soon after nine o'clock the members make their way to the White
Hart to pay their subscriptions, an event which in itself calls
for many a rollicking Sussex song. As soon as the subscriptions
have been paid and all have had their bite of lunch, some stalwart,
who styles himself 'the mayor', stands on the steps of the old
inn and calls the roll. As he shouts each name, so the members
fall into procession for their march to the church - first the
standard-bearers, then the band, and behind them the rank and
file, all wearing rosettes of the club colours and carrying sticks
of peeled hazel, the latter as a symbol, some say, of the staves
the pilgrims once carried on their down-land treks to Canterbury.
Not a man or woman who has not been allotted some other task
is excused attending this service to hear the vicar preach his
traditional sermon at the cost of £l - a fee which, also
by tradition, he must afterwards return to the club's funds!
Any one who should display negligence in this respect is tracked
down by the stewards and compelled to pay a fine of a shilling.
The 'feast' takes place after the service, and it is amusing
to see the villagers bustling to and fro with their bowls, dishes
and hand trucks from the bakers' oven in the square, where they
have been preparing and cooking the food, to the White Hart,
where it is now to be eaten. Though present conditions have put
a check on the amount of food to be served, in normal times these
South Harting menus are memorable. Six yards of suet pudding, three 15lb gammons, 40 lb of salt beef, 14 lb of
topside, a couple of legs of pork, one and a half bushels of
potatoes, and six dozen cabbages would normally be considered
untoward, and with this as much as 72 gallons of English ale
might be served.
For how long South Harting has boasted a 'mayor and corporation'
is not quite certain, but the 'insignia' is carefully preserved
in a casket in the White Hart - a fine silken robe adorned with
bottle corks. The duties of this august body are also preserved,
and they make amusing reading. The 'town crier', for instance,
is required to 'shout the odds' on the eve of all big races,
while the 'treasurer' is to 'stand drinks all round at his own
proper charge and expense'. As for the 'mayor', he is expected
not only to check the levels of the ponds, and see to it that
the parishioners cut the grass of the tennis courts and bowling
greens, but worse still, to 'question all strangers and visitors'!
In times gone by there was a meal of lunch at 10am in the morning. |