Old Pond publishing days

Best at Show - Malvern

Plenty of visitors to the Malvern Tractor show on Saturday. Not so many on Sunday - perhaps because it was Mothering Sunday.

Best at show was Mr H Dixon's John Deere 1010W from 1962. Serial number 27154.

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

Filming tractor restoration: paintwork

We spent this weekend as the guests of Alan and Margaret Davies, filming progress on three of Alan's projects.

The chassis is from an early MF 135. The other two machines are both 35Xs, one industrial, the other agricultural. The main tractor featured in the programme is the industrial. Alan hopes to have it ready from the November tractor shows - and we hope to have the DVD ready then too.

Know Your Tractors - advance information

If you were asked to choose 41 tractors to represent a fair sample of those most likely to be seen at work on Britain's arable farms today, which would you select? This was the task we set tractor enthusiast and photographer Chris Lockwood.

Know Your Tractors by Chris Lockwood is a paperback, 88 pages including 41 illustrations. ISBN 978-1-905523-91-7. NOW IN STOCK. £4.99.

Chris's selection includes examples from 25 marques from Case to Zetor. Most of the machines are modern - but there are some classics too. The majority of the tractors are shown at work in the east of England. A concise text gives basic information about the tractors and the equipment with which they are operating. Enthusiasts will enjoy the book - but it is really an introduction for visitors to rural shows,farm parks and country bookshops.

Chris Lockwood is from an East Anglian farming family. He has a library of over 100,000 tractor and machinery images and one of the most popular tractor photograph websites: midsuffolkagriphotos. The site is continually being updated with new shots.

Malvern and Spalding

These are the next two shows at which we will be selling our DVDs and books.

Tractor World show, Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Saturday-Sunday 1-2 March. Contact Kelsey Publishing: 01959 541444.

The Spalding Model Tractor Show, Springfields Event Centre, Spalding, Lincs, Sunday 6 April.

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]

Land girls on television

Old Pond Publishing has published three separate reminiscences by former Land Girls: Irene Grimwood, Joan Snelling and Sonia Kurta. Irene and Sonia have been interviewed today by different television channels. The interviews have been prompted by the issuing of a new medal to give belated recognition to the wartime women who worked so hard on the land.

85-year-old Irene Grimwood took a sentimental journey back to the Old Rectory, Halesworth, where she was billeted during the war. The ITV Anglia team of cameraman David Bush (left in the picture) and interviewer Malcolm Robertson drew out her memories. These included not just the hard work but also the fun that girls got up to: for instance, climbing out of a first-floor window to sneak off and kiss American airmen goodbye.

Irene's book, Land Girls at the Old Rectory, published by Old Pond, is a light-hearted account of days when a gang of girls who missed the last train could always find a safe refuge in which to spend the night. More ...

Meanwhile, Sonia Kurta was on her way back from London where BBC 1 Television had invited her on to their Breakfast Show. Sonia is author of Charismatic Cows and Beefcake Bulls, in which she recalls the farm work she undertook in the 1940s and early '50s. During much of this time she was a member of the Women's Land Army, and she was based in Cornwall, including a long stint on the Caerhays estate. More ...

Perkins engine book in stock

We now have copies for sale of this new book designed and published for Perkins Engines by Landmark Publishing.

A Square Deal All Round ... the history of Perkins Engines: 1932 to 2006 is a large-format hardback, 253 pages with 136 generously sized black-and-white photographs. The price is £25.00. Buy now

Author David Boulton joined Perkins as a student apprentice in 1957. He enjoyed a wide range of experience with the company at home and overseas as a development engineer and in quality control. He was one of the founders of Perkins's heritage club and retired from the company in 2002.

In the book he deals thoroughly with the company's engineering, finance and structure. Because the engines have had a wide range of applications, his story includes agricultural, trucking, marine and military applications, among others. In a useful appendix he gives engine specifications. David Boulton's account runs from the visionary founding in 1932, through the M-F years to the early period with Caterpillar. In separate chapters he covers the Brazilian, American and licensee operations.

William Brewis - his diaries

From 1833 to 1850 William Brewis, who farmed at Throphill Hall, near Mitford, Northumberland, kept a journal in an account book. His entries cover the progress of his farming against the background of the repeal of the corn laws. Fairs and markets, the weather, crops and livestock are all included. Wider political events such as battles in India compete for space with outspoken comments about local people, the prowess of the Morpeth hangman and Queen Victoria's child-bearing.

The Diaries of William Brewis of Mitford 1833-1850, transcribed by Joan Foster & Dr Michael Smith, edited by Hilary Kristensen, paperback, 116 pages, approx 30 illustrations, ISBN 978-0-9538443-8-8 (published in 2007 by Wagtail Press), available from Old Pond Publishing at £9.95. more ...

The diaries have been preserved in the Robinson special collection at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. One of William's descendants was arguably the 20th century's greatest writer of farming humour: Henry Brewis. more ...

Some sample entries

Morpeth Fair for servants. I hired 2 men 14 & 17 £ and one girl £8 per year.

Died at Windsor, the King of Great Britain ... I had the pleasure of seeing him on my road from Windsor to London about 5 years ago. He appeared to be a round faced good looking man and very plain. He has been a good king for this country.

I was out on the moor on Friday afternoon and the fire and thunder fell both together fell just where I was and I was stupified and turned quite round. When I looked round I saw my bloodhound dog standing upon his hindlegs looking with astonishment to know what was to become of me.