Dear Prime Time member,

The sun may be shining but it’s not exactly warm is it?  I’ve just been chatting with my colleague Liz, who reminded me that this time last year we were enjoying something of a heatwave. So would I prefer to be in the warmth and sunshine of spring 2020 but with the prospect of a further twelve months of the pandemic dominating our lives, or would I rather be where we are now; somewhat cooler (and damper!) but with a real sense of optimism that we may now be permanently emerging from the shadow of Covid?  I think I’ll take the latter; unsettled weather and all…

By May, I am usually adapting the menu in the Naylor household; switching warming comfort food for lighter salads more appropriate for the late spring weather.  However, at the moment I am still reaching for the casserole recipes and dessert is more likely to be rice pudding than fresh fruit salad!

A bowl of rice pudding is one of those memorable childhood staples; a once a week treat, eagerly anticipated.  As a child, my topping of choice was a dollop of jam, preferably red in colour, the flavour being less important.  As my tastes have matured, however, I would now reach for the tin of Golden Syrup rather than the jar of jam.

Lyle’s Golden Syrup is a store cupboard staple.  Those green and golden tins are so familiar to us and indeed this iconic product holds the Guinness World Record for the World’s Oldest Unchanged Brand Packaging. We would probably say that we are all familiar with what a tin of Lyle’s Golden Syrup looks like; “It’s green and gold with a lion on the front isn’t it?”  Well, yes – but how closely have you actually looked at that lion?  I was reading a recent article in the Waitrose Food magazine and I was surprised to learn that the lion on the front of the Lyle’s Golden Syrup can is actually a dead lion and it’s swarming with bees!  Furthermore, a tin of Lyle’s Golden Syrup bears a biblical reference; who’d have thought it?!  I’m probably by now speaking to myself as I’m sensing that it’s likely you’ve stopped reading and are heading to the kitchen cupboard to hunt out the tin of Golden Syrup that’s lurking there, just to see what on earth I’m talking about!

Below the image of the lion on the front of the tin is the wording: ‘Out of the strong came forth sweetness’ which is a reference to Samson’s riddle which comes from the Book of Judges: Chapter 14, verse 14.

The Israelite Samson (he of the strength-giving hair, later betrayed by Delilah) on his wedding day sets a riddle to a group of Philistine men, with the aim of getting one over on his long-standing enemies.  If the men could solve the riddle, Samson would reward them handsomely; but if they failed to work out the riddle’s meaning – the men would have to reward Samson to the same degree.  As the riddle was based on a personal experience of Samson’s and of which he had told no-one, the riddle should have been impossible for the men to solve.

Shortly before his marriage, while walking along the road, Samson had been attacked by a lion.  Using the strength gifted to him by the Lord, Samson was able to overcome the lion with his bare hands and killed it, leaving the carcass beside the road.  The next time Samson journeyed along that stretch of road, he noticed that a colony of bees had made its home in the carcass and that they were producing honey.  It was this incident that Samson used as the basis for his riddle: 

‘Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong something sweet’.

I’m not going to provide a spoiler by saying how the story ends, but if you would like to top up your knowledge of Samson beyond that of his ill-fated alliance with Delilah, then Chapter 14 of Judges is a short and easy read.

Abram Lyle was a deeply religious man. In the article I read he was described as ‘a man so pious he once said he’d rather his son be dead than drunk’.  Why Golden Syrup cans bear the reference to Samson’s riddle is unclear.  There have been suggestions that ‘Out of the strong came forth sweetness’ is a reference to the strength of Lyle’s business, while others have said it is a reference to the strong container in which the product is sold. Alternatively, maybe this was a favourite Bible verse of Abram Lyle; we are perhaps destined to never know…

What is certain though is that the existence of Lyle’s Golden Syrup is a happy accident.  Golden Syrup is actually a by-product of the sugar-cane refining process, which in the 1880s was Lyle’s sugar-cane refinery’s primary business.  ‘Goldie’ as it was originally known was first sold in 1881, mainly to the employees of the sugar-cane refinery where it was served up to the workers out of wooden casks.  The iconic tin came two years later in 1883 when Lyle expanded the business and began selling his Golden Syrup to local grocers, and the rest is (very successful) history…

Who would have thought that something so familiar to us as a can of Golden Syrup could be so interesting? Facts like this fascinate me and I seem to have a bank of such trivia stored up in my head to wheel out when needed!  I’m definitely of the opinion that ‘one is never too old to learn’.  I look forward to the Prime Time quizzes because invariably I come away with a few extra tit-bits of knowledge that I didn’t have before.  I know that I am not alone in this knowledge-gathering habit as we have a loyal group of members who regularly tune in to the virtual quizzes that Di has been preparing for us throughout the last year.

By popular request there is another Quiz date for your diaries; a little over two weeks away.  We will be back on Zoom on Tuesday 25th May for the next session of the popular Prime Time Quiz.  Proceedings will start at 2.30pm.  If you haven’t joined one of our quizzes before, please do give it a try – we would love to have you with us.  We have four ten-question rounds; the theme of which at the last quiz were Royalty, Science, Colours and Food.  The main focus is on having fun and enjoying the time spent with friends, so there is as much laughter as there is head-scratching!  Joining details will be included in the weekly email on the Friday before the event. 

One last notice before I end off and leave you to go and dig out your tin of Golden Syrup (if you haven’t done so already!)  Last week, the funeral took place of Prime Time member Doris Borthwick.  Doris’ funeral service was Live Streamed at the time for the benefit of those who were unable to attend the service in person.  Doris’ daughter has given her permission for the recording of the service to remain available for people to watch and draw comfort from if they were unable to watch the live broadcast.  If you would like to view Doris’ funeral service, it is available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWua9wgZGOSAIOK8xTj1FPg

We also send our love to the family and friends of Prime Time member Nora Kennea whose funeral service was held at Busbridge Church on Tuesday this week.  Our thoughts and prayers are particularly with Nora’s husband Trevor, who is also a long standing member of Busbridge Church and himself a member of Prime Time.

Hopefully by the time I write next week, the temperature will have risen by a few degrees again and it will feel as though spring has returned.  In the meantime, stay warm by tucking into rice pudding with Golden Syrup!  (Hopefully Waitrose won’t now sell out!)

Until next Friday,

Penny x

Penny Naylor
Seniors’ Ministry Lead