Desperate poverty in The East End of London all too true

Ten-year-old Alice never complained, what good would it do?

She had reached the age to travel with her family to Kent.

Leaving behind the dirt and smog, their struggle to pay rent

Hop picking in 1920 the children did their share of grafting

Alice loved the clean air, the food, the banter and chatting

She fell in love with Kent; she dared to dream of another life

Far away from her London with all its grimness and strife

Every and every year Alice looked forward as harvest came

She was twenty now, as she travelled the train once again

Alone this time, her family had work to keep them at home

Alice saw the familiar fields, familiar friends she never felt alone

This year her long held dream of Kentish life came true

In the village she met William, they walked out those two

Getting to know one another better, bashfully a little flirty

They fell in love through the long, hot summer of 1930

Local man William asked Alice if they could wed

Barely able speak, in shock she nodded her head

Kentish life she adored with all her heart and soul

At long last Alice felt in love, complete and whole

Three generations later here in the twenty first century

Their great grandchildren continue with the family legacy

Hops, beer and a micro-brewery, the tradition unbowed

If Alice and William look down upon them, they must feel duly proud