It wasn’t so much scenes on the television drama Poldark of a bare-chested hero in action that aroused the PGP’s interest in scything. More the visit to our meeting last October of Simon Fairlie, who has done more than anyone else to maintain interest in this ancient method of cutting grass.
Simon’s talk was truly inspirational, because we were inspired to lay on a one-day scything course of our own. This took place in the orchard meadow at Harthill Cottage early in July. Nine students – numbers were limited to allow plenty of individual tuition – were instructed by highly-experienced scything tutor Andrea Gilpin. She is national project manager for an organisation called Caring for God’s Acre, which helps to look after country churchyards, where scything is a vital skill.
It is a measure of Andrea’s skill that as a result of the course five of the course participants have bought scythes of their own. So don’t be surprised if over the summer you see someone demonstrating this ancient skill in a local meadow – bare-chested or otherwise.
Oh, and the Poldark connection? It turns out the technique demonstrated by actor Aidan Turner left a great deal to be desired – in fact it was positively dangerous.