Brother to the Ox

Posted on 17 November 2020

Our England office is based in the Wesley Centre Business & Events Centre in Maltby, South Yorkshire. Recently we had a Blue Plaque fixed to the building adjacent to the entrance in commemoration of Fred Kitchen 1890-1969 who was an agricultural labourer, writer, broadcaster and Methodist lay preacher who spent his formative years in Maltby.

The project was brought to fruition by Maltby Local History Society who raised most of the money with a film evening on 11 March 2020 when "Brother to the Ox" was screened to a packed audience. Fred Kitchen’s masterpiece, ‘Brother to the Ox’ was published in 1940.

The book includes a mildly fictionalised account of his early life in ‘Little Norwood’ (actually Maltby) and this incorporates references to the Wesleyan Chapel on Blyth Road (the stone building which now forms part of the Wesley Centre).

Also involved in the project was the Rotherham and District Civic Society who organised manufacture of the plaque; the Directors and Staff of Maltby Community Development Trust who helped at every stage and the Earl of Scarborough.