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When Britain entered the war in 1914, the country was far from self-sufficient in food and importing goods became very difficult as naval warfare escalated.

Pershore and the Vale of Evesham was already a very valuable area of food production and the climate together with multiple smallholdings allowed production to continue during the war. Approximately 1,000 men from the Pershore district fought in World War One and this caused some problems for these small market gardens and the fruit and vegetable crops.

Some men appealed against conscription after 1916 but it seems with limited success – although they were sometimes able to delay their recruitment.

Many women found themselves running the small holding with the help of their children or older relatives and seasonal labour. Gathering the fruit and vegetable harvests required intense effort and a wide range of additional labour was utilised: Belgian refugees, Irish women, Birmingham University students, soldiers no longer fit for service, German prisoners of war and children. Worcestershire had the third highest agricultural use of child labour in the country during the war.

Plums were preserved and eaten at different times of the year, particularly important as prunes were no longer being imported. Jam on bread was a staple food and plums were also used in cakes, tarts, pies, (both sweet and savoury) and puddings such as English plum pudding eaten at Christmas.

There were some tensions in 1918 because the Ministry of Food capped the charge for plums and this was causing hardship to the growers in Pershore and Evesham, whilst jam manufacturers were seen as making significant profits.

The matter was raised in a House of Lords debate and ties in with a continual anxiety during the war about profiteering.

In recent years the popularity of plums has increased in the town again and the importance of the fruit is celebrated at the annual Plum Festival.

Location: Tiddesley Woods, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 2AD
Image: Paul Johnson, who is the Pershore ‘plum charmer’
Narrated by Professor Maggie Andrews from the University of Worcester

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