I found this fun picture in Archive.org.
These hop pickers are walking on stilts in Faversham, England in 1920. This is a job I’m grateful not to have! Anything involving stilts would spell disaster for me!

I found this fun picture in Archive.org.
These hop pickers are walking on stilts in Faversham, England in 1920. This is a job I’m grateful not to have! Anything involving stilts would spell disaster for me!

An interesting fact about hops picking. For many families in inner city London, it was the only time they got out into the country and could get some sunshine with its very important vitamin D. The slums of London were very damp and shaded. For those children whose parents picked hops in the season, and of course they would bring the children along, it was often the difference between the children showing signs of rickets (bone deformation due to lack of vitamin D) or having healthy, straight bone structures.
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That is the coolest fun fact! How did you know that??
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I think I learned that when I was reading Jennifer Worth’s books about her time serving as a midwife in post-war East End London, the Docklands area. Those are the books upon which the British TV series, Call the MIdwife, are based.
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looks like fun to me!
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In my youth I had stilts. Loved them. They are splendid for developing balance, coordination and dexterity. The only stilts seen today are worn by drywall installers, painters, and other construction workers that must work overhead. Parents think they are dangerous for children. Instead, parents spend large sums of money to buy electric bikes, scooters, etc., that travel 20 mph or faster.
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I guess it depends on the kid. I could probably have handled a scooter better than stilts… I’d be downright dangerous on those! My parents were wise though… they gave me a Big Wheel, and I was perfectly happy!
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We all spent hours outside whizzing around the neighbourhood on our bikes. Of course, I was the last of the Boomers so there was a lot of us. Sadly, I don’t hear or see children playing outside at all anymore unless they are very little ones at the park accompanied by their parents.
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That is true. Kids are more indoors now.
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I remember my dad making my brother and me tin cans with ropes we held onto that were short stilts. They were fun to walk around on. Later, a company made Romper Stompers” after the same Depression Era idea. I loved these homemade toys that my dad introduced us to. Anyone remember tin cans with strings and talking to your siblings at a distance? I guess I’m off track! My dad did make my brother a pair of stilts, but nowhere near the height of those in the picture. That job is a new one to me.
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I never used tin cans but I loved walkie talkies!
I get dizzy looking at those guys!
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