Caught by the River

DAMSON TIME

Bill Drummond | 2nd October 2024

The Great Lane from Bierton in The Vale of Aylesbury waiting to be walked

From the desk of admin@penkilnburn.com

Tuesday the 27th of August 2024

Kind Folk,

As the Summer began to tip, but before the first leaf fell…

Bill Drummond returned to the Great Lane in The Vale of Aylesbury to collect a bag of the fruit hanging from the Damson Trees that line this Great Lane.

Four Damsons waiting to be pulled from the branch

He has done this every year since 1983; bar the years he has missed.

The Great Lane exists to mark the turning of the seasons.

And the collecting of the Damsons is done to celebrate this turning.

The Damsons that have been collected waiting to be made into Jam

Drummond uses the fruit to make Damson Jam.

Drummond uses the Damson Jam to spread on toast in the late afternoons of Autumn.

The 2024 collection of the fruit and the making of the jam is now complete.

And the leaves are about to fall.

Four Jars of Damson Jam waiting to be spread on toast

But also…

2024 is the first year that he has used this turning of the season, to journey to a dark industrial unit, on a light industrial estate, in the shadow of the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station, to select two boxes of Penkiln Burn Books.

And…

To take these two boxes of books to Marlinspike Hall, in Walpole, for Alimentation to trade with people.

These two books are now in season, ready to be picked.

The two titles are MAN MAKES BED and MAN SHINES SHOES.

Twa Books – Front Covers waiting to be opened

In previous times, these books were only ever available from the hands of Bill Drummond, while he was in the process of making a bed or shining a pair of shoes. 

But times have altered, and the beds are being left unmade and shoes remain unpolished. And the Spiders are taking back control.

Twa Books – Back Covers waiting to be read

For further information regarding these Twa Books and how to purchase copies of these Twa Books from Alimentation click HERE.

To download a DAMSON JAM RECIPE PB Poster 284 click HERE.

Kind Regards,

admin@penkilnburn.com