Chairman’s Chit Chat April 2024
I entered the world in February 1950 at No 1, The Cottages, Lower Barns, Farm, Trimpley, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire.
My Dad’s official job title was Farm Manager. Looking back, this was a rather grand description because there was only one other full-time employee and one part-time worker.
This meant that Dad did just about everything. He was a jack of all trades and master of every one of them. He was an extraordinary man.
The 160-acre farm was a typical mixed operation of its era, keeping sheep, pigs, cattle and with some arable acreage.
Today this type of farm seems not to be financially viable, which I think is a real pity.
The farm belonged to a Kidderminster carpet factory owner named Lionel Rowe, who was well known and a well-liked “character” in the town.
He was very much a gentleman farmer; he owned and lived on the farm but did not get his hands dirty.
To be a farm owner was a status symbol for him because he was Master of the local hunt, The Albrighton and Woodland.
Twice a year the farm hosted a meet and although as a youngster I was against fox hunting – and I still am today – I have to admit it was a great spectacle.
As a teenager I was expected to do my bit to help out with jobs around the farm which I really enjoyed and, at the end of the week, Mr. Rowe would present me with, what is now, an old-fashioned, brown wage packet with a few shillings in it.
I felt very grown up.
Today health and safety would have a meltdown over the things I was allowed to do: drive tractors, sit on combine harvesters, ride on fully-loaded trailers of hay or straw – to name a few of the less hazardous things I got up to.
Despite this idyllic upbringing my Dad actively discouraged me from a career in agriculture. His argument was that the work was physically demanding, the hours long and irregular and the pay did not put you in the super tax bracket.
Looking back, even through rose-tinted glasses, I thank Dad for his discouragement.
Tags: 1950, Dad, farm, hunt