Old Pond publishing days

David Holt, DVD narrator and Claas Matador owner

The scripts for the latest programmes from Old Pond Publishing - Massive Earthmovers Part 3 and Workhorse for the World, the story of JCB's backhoe loader - are being narrated by David Holt. David juggles a professional career as playwright and radio actor with an enthusiasm for combine harvesters.

David (right and left) has owned his 1967 Matador for nearly ten years. Previously the combine had been main machine at a farm in Lavenham, Suffolk. After it was superseded it languished in a barn for twelve years. You'll guess the second part of the story. David brought a new battery to the derelict and it started in twelve seconds and has needed virtually no 'restoration'.

David's Matador was putting its 12-foot cutter to work at the 22nd Barleylands Essex Country Show as part of the annual Harvest Demonstration.

Working alongside the Matador was a slightly smaller and older Claas, Phil Vidler's 1964 Mercury with an 8-ft cut (left). This spent most of its working life at Willow Farm, Althorne, near Southminster, Essex. Phil got it into good order after it was left for nine years in Crawfords' yard.

Phil, vice-chairman of the Rochford Hundred Vintage Traction Engine Club, has a long association with this excellent Barleylands event.

John Moffitt CBE

The death today of John Moffitt has been announced. It follows a long period of illness.

The two Gentlemen of the Party: John Moffitt (right) and Jack Kemball during filming at the 1998 'Power of the Past' event at Wantisden, Suffolk. Jack Kemball died in March this year, just short of his 97th birthday.

Born in Cumbria in 1929, John Mofitt left school at 16 to work on his father's Hunday farm. In the early 1960s he and two other cattle breeders formed the first private AI company, CBS, which became Premier Breeders. The success of this operation, the renown of the Hunday dairy herd, the efficiency and size of his farms, his venture into Hunday Electronics, his public works and his founding of the Hunday museum all brought him acclaim and honours.

John had a deep interest in agricultural engineering, and in particular the work of Dan Albone, creator of the Ivel tractor, and Harry Ferguson. He restored an Ivel, making it perhaps the oldest working internal-combustion-engined farm tractor in the world. Working with George Potts, he built up one of the finest collections of Ferguson tractors and equipment.

John's enthusiasm was infectious. No one who was there will forget the Historic Pageant that he put on for Friends of Ferguson Heritage in June 1999 at his home at Stocksfield, near Newcastle.

Besides a parade of all his Ferguson tractors and equipment, he created a pageant in which the achievements of three great tractor innovators were recalled by actors.

(left) John Moffitt and his pageant actors: Alex Albone (acting the role of Dan Albone); Bill Martin (as Harry Ferguson), and Gerry White (Henry Ford).

John kept a detailed diary from 1950 and he was a great collector of records, literature and other items to do with his interests. In his later years these formed the basis of three books: Fergusons, the Hunday Experience (with John Farnworth, 2000); The Ivel Story (2003); 60 Years of Farming - an autobiography (2007). All have been published by Japonica Press.

Old Pond DVDs to which John Moffitt contributed are Power of the Past, in which he talked about his Gyrotiller and Ferguson Tractors which featured several of the rarer machines from his collection.

Landsmans Bookshop to rise from the ashes

In the blog of 28 February we reported on the liquidation of Landsmans Bookshop Ltd.

It now appears that the name and stock have been taken on by Andrew Blandford who runs the Blandford bookshop in Broadway. He expects to revitalise the company and carry the operation on in the similar way. Andrew can be emailed at [email protected] or phoned on 01386 858588.

Astrid Massey - growing up in Germany 1928-45

H W Freeman (see post 16 April) and his wife Betty were the centre of a group of friends/helpers attracted by their personalities and lifestyles. Betty's closest friend was probably Astrid Massey who, like Betty, was a German expatriate. Astrid, a generation younger than Betty, took over from the older woman when she retired from teaching German classes at Suffolk College, Ipswich.

Astrid in about 1944

When Astrid died in 2005 she left pencil jottings in which she had sketched for her four adult children an account of growing up in Germany. Her widower, Harry, has collated the notes and published them under the title 'Astrid's Book'.

Few of us who knew the precise, hard-working and very helpful person when we attended her evening classes could have guessed at the backgound revealed by the book. Astrid Ziolkowski, born in 1928 near Bremerhaven in north Germany, grew up in a poor but close family against the backgound of the immense changes in Germany. Astrid describes some of the impact of these changes and the differing attitudes of members of her family to the Nazi regime. Astrid herself 'danced for Hitler'.

When she was quite young Astrid moved with her family to Hamburg. In July 1943 they were there during the three nights of carpet bombing. Her unemotional description of how she survived is riveting.

After the bombing came evacuation to Bavaria and the confusion and poverty of the end of the war when she had to come to terms with the loss of family members. Her story ends happily when she meets and marries Harry who was with the British occupying forces.

If you would like to read a truthful, concise account of one person's experience growing up in Germany between the wars, then you should look at 'Astrid's Book'. It is obtainable at £6.95 from Harry Massey, 48 Holcombe Crescent, Ipswich IP2 9PW, United Kingdom. Phone 01473 683090. The book includes photographs.

Hy-Mac holiday

We're just back from a week in Crete. Flew out with BA on Terminal 5, Day 2 fearing the worst. No problems. No problem coming back to T5, either.

In western Crete we walked down the Imbros gorge following the path taken in 1944 by 12,000 servicemen looking to be evacuated from the island after the German invasion. The 5-mile gorge ends in the south at the Mediterranean with Africa over the horizon.

Looking towards Africa was a friend from Gt Yeldham, Essex: Hy-Mac serial no. 1225-570.

Philip Wood is 94 today

In 1970 Philip Wood was appointed as the first Books Manager at Farming Press, becoming sales director of the books division before he retired in 1980. He collaborated particularly successfully with Eddie Straiton, author of the 'TV Vet' series of books.

Philip's career started in 1932 when went to work with Dairy Farmer magazine in Hanover Square, London, as office boy / typist / teamaker / assistant to the ad manager. In 1935 he transferred to the editorial department, based at Ipswich.

Philip was called up for military service in 1940, served in the Middle East, was commissioned and finished the war as a lieutenant. After the war Philip worked again for Dairy Farmer, then went out to South Africa where he joined the South African Farmers Weekly editorial staff. Back in the UK after a couple of years he became, in 1953, the founder editor of Pig Farming magazine.

Philip and his wife, Phyllis, enjoying his 94th birthday in their Ipswich flat.

From 1958 to 1962 Philip was editor-in-chief of the Farming Press group. In 1963 he left to found his own PR business in Ipwich. In 1970 he returned as books manager.

He has always been just as busy outside work as in: former chairman of the East Anglian publicity club and the Ipswich operatic and dramatic society; chairman of Ipswich rotary club; warden of St Matthew's church and former editor of their parish magazine. He sang in a number of choirs, including the police choir and has written booklets of hymns.

(Although Pig Farming magazine is now closed, cmpi still publishes the Dairy Farmer. There is further more information about the history of Farming Press group, the current status of its books and videos and its relationship with Old Pond at Farming Press.)

Japonica Press and Classic Tractor Books

It's eighteen years since Stephen Moate started the specialist distribution company Classic Tractor Books . His range of - and knowledge about - books and DVDs on tractors, farm machinery, earthmoving. logging and allied subjects are unmatched in the UK.

It's also ten years since he launched the companion publishing company Japonica Press. The ex dairy farmer named the company after his favourite cow.

Stephen manning his stand at the Malvern Tractor Show, spring 2008.

Landsmans Bookshop in liquidation

Everyone involved in farming in Great Britain will have come across Landsmans. They ran a mobile bookshop which visited ag and hort colleges on their 'college round'. They had stands at the major agricultural shows. At some shows, like Smithfield, it was difficult to get near the stand for the number of customers. They also had a mail-order side with a comprehensive annual catalogue.

Landsmans was founded in the 1940s by Mrs Young, in her back bedroom. After the war she was joined by her cousin, Ken Stewart, who supplied the ex-RAF trucks which was the basis of their travelling units. Latterly the company was run by Ken's son, Peter, and Mrs Young's son, Keith.

Perhaps they should have seen the writing on the wall when milk quotas were introduced in the early 1980s. This was the sign that agricultural production for its own sake was no longer going to be supported. The number of agricultural students began to fall rapidly, and this was Landsmans' prime market. Their stock of horticultural, gardening and countryside books was also wide - but here they were competing against major high-street booksellers.

So, it was a sad moment today when we received notice of Landsmans' liquidation. The UK needs to have a specialised bookseller that is able to offer any agricultural title and able to give a customer personal advice on what is available. We no longer have one.

Update on the future of Landsmans - see blog 2 May

You want to work on the American harvest ...

We are quite frequently asked if we have any contacts for people who want to join an American harvesting team.

The enquirers have often watched Custom Cutters or The Two Thousand Mile Harvest.

The young Brits filmed working for the Custom Cutters DVD had been accepted on the Ohio State University Program. The program's aim is 'to promote the general interest of international exchange in the field of agriculture'.

Dylan Winter filmed crews working for two contractors. The John Deere harvesters are operated by the Frederick brothers who have their own website.

The non-governmental, non-profit-making Agriventure say that they are 'an international exchange association which provides the opportunity for young people to travel around the world and work in agriculture ... including the custom harvest in the US or similar work in Australia.'

Finally, if you want to have more background on the Custom Cutters DVD and some of Dylan Winter's other work you should take a look at Dylan's own www.customcutters.org

There are other blog entries relating to custom harvesting on 2 July 2007 and 8 February 2009

Is Heather asleep?

No, she's totally absorbed in her first reading of the manuscript of The King of the Norfolk Poachers.

This is the product of a remarkable, lengthy research by part-time Registrar and researcher, Charlotte Paton. It all began when she moved into a remote house near Pentney, in Norfolk. She realised that it fitted the description of the cottage occupied  by the mole-catcher and poacher immortalised in the 1930s by Lilias Rider Haggard in her book, I Walked by Night.

Charlotte's first task was to find out his real name, Frederick Rolfe, with the aid of the BBC Living History programme. But then as Charlotte delved deeper into Fred's life (as portrayed in Lilias's book which was based on Fred's own writing) she began to uncover lies and evasions as well as a wealth of social history.

Charlotte's book is due to be published by Old Pond in the autumn. Meanwhile, you can find Charlotte's own account of her researches in the October 2007 issue of Ancestors magazine, email [email protected]