NEWS

Revisiting sites of 1938 hedge demonstrations
By Staff Reporter

IN her book “A Country Childhood”, Daisy Naylor from Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire recounts how her father, George Midgley, was invited to Northern Ireland in the late 1930s to demonstrate the craft of cutting and laying hedges.
Newspaper cuttings from the period give details and dates of 24 demonstrations carried out on farms throughout Counties Down and Londonderry in January and February 1938, including at the first International Ploughing Match held at Carse Hall, Limavady.
From George’s letters home we also understand that he was in County Antrim in November/December 1937.
He relates “I had a speech day last Friday, 38 students from Agricultural College Antrim, some of them are coming to work and on Dec 8th it advertised in papers for people to come and see expert Hedge Cutter giving demonstrations and instructions.”
The Hedge Laying Association of Ireland (HLAI) is an all Ireland voluntary group dedicated to the conservation of hedgerows. One of its aims is to research the tradition of hedge laying in Ireland.
The HLAI have recently secured funding through the NI Heritage Lottery Fund for a project (Hands On Hedges) which involves researching George Midgley’s hedge laying tour.


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October 9th 2009
October 2nd 2009