On 4 April, Malcolm Macbeth talks to the Society about thatching in a traditional way that his family has been following for almost nine decades. He will share how to thatch a roof using long straw and water reeds.

Although the majority of thatching straw today comes from modern varieties, Malcolm reaps, thrashes and stacks thousands of sheaves of traditional and local wheat grown specially for them every year.

Once a common sight in fields across England, producing traditional thatching straw today is a niche occupation. It requires a gentle touch – and harks back to an age when farms enlisted help from dozens of local people at harvest time. Malcolm continues to use the type of agricultural machinery – and traditional methods – familiar in their grandfather’s day.

A team of eight – often local teachers and students – bring in the harvest, helped by a 70-year-old Albion 5A reaper binder. It cuts the wheat, transporting it by a canvas conveyor belt to be tied before leaving the sheaves on the field to be stooked. Then a fleet of four tractors delivers the crop to the yard, where it is thrashed in a 1949 Ransomes thrashing machine and stacked.

Join us at the Assembly Rooms in Dedham on 4 April at 730pm to learn more about this fascinating heritage industry. DHS members are free with guests just £2.