Photograph by Mel Kirkpatrick

Mel Kirkpatrick was working as a volunteer at the Village Shop when this beautiful old car parked outside. She rushed out and took this splendid picture. With no modern cars to be seen, this photograph of the car outside the 18th century former Reading Room which now houses the Village Community Shop could have been taken when the car was new. Hopefully, someone may be able to say when that would have been and provide some details of the car.

Thanks, Mel.

Colin Wootton

HS2 so-called “Green Tunnel” under construction at the bottom of the huge cutting which is devastating the countryside between Sulgrave and Greatworth:
Photo: Colin Wootton

Richard Fonge writes:

We are coming to the end of a lovely warm spell, much appreciated after the last few months of rain and chill. The countryside I always feel looks at its best in early May with the freshness of the new foliage.

The better weather has come too late for the planting of the land up the gated road. This is an area of some 150 acres or 60 hectares. A sizeable area to have no income from. Official figures forecast that cereal production will be down by 17% this year because of the wet winter and spring. Although we changed from imperial to metric all those years ago, land is still advertised and sold in acres mainly. One hectare equals 2.47 acres. Also at pedigree stock auctions, the animals are sold in guineas. £1.05 pence equals a Guinea.

The majority of sheep flocks, and to an extent beef and dairy herds, are commercial. To be a pedigree flock or herd you must have kept the breeding lines and records for many years to prove the origin of your stock. Once approved as a pedigree breeder the farmer can prefix the herd or flock with a suitable name. So my younger sister Susan and husband Dennis after establishing a dairy herd on their farm in Kentucky U.S.A called it the Stuchbury herd of pedigree Holsteins.

This does not mean that commercial stock are badly bred, far from it. The selection of sires and females is most important, because the farmer is producing a product, whether that be milk or meat, that has to be to the high standard demanded and expected of the consumer, and commercially viable and profitable for the business he operates.

The agricultural show season soon begins, but sadly the Kenilworth Show which I have been involved with for nearly forty years is no longer, as a site can’t be found, due to that great destroyer of our countryside HS2 going through our present site. Agricultural shows are the industry’s shop window, where stock are shown, machinery displayed and all things countryside are in evidence. It gives the farming industry an opportunity to meet with their customers, explain by word and demonstration what we are about as food producers and guardians of the countryside.

Richard Fonge

The last pigs to be reared in Sulgrave, twenty years ago
Photo: Colin Wootton

Richard Fonge writes:

I started last months notes by saying that there had been a much needed break in the continual wet weather allowing some field work to be done. Sadly it was just a short break, and now in mid April the continual rain persists. It is now a very serious situation for farmers and growers, which could have an impact later on in the year on food prices. You only have to look at the unplanted fields up the concrete road and on the Moreton rd to realise that the chances of planting a crop this spring is unlikely. The effects of the excessive rain can be seen in the winter wheat crop on the Stuchbury footpath. Multiply these field situations across the country and you have a serious situation. We are less than 60% self sufficient food wise as a nation anyway, so we do not want to be sucking in more imports.

In the grass field off the Helmdon rd there is a flock of young sheep. They are ewe lambs which will be bred from this autumn to have their lambs next spring at two years old when they will be called theaves. Sheep terminology is endless and confusing as it varies from different regions of the country. This wet weather has not been good for the lambing season, making it an extra pressure at a busy time. It must be remembered that lambs are born with a coat that is there to protect them from wet and cold, with wet the most threatening of the two. However providing the ewe has the milk to feed her lambs and they are born strong all should be well.

At our forthcoming fete in June there will be skittles played with the winners receiving prizes. This game was once called bowling for the pig, with the first prize of a weaner pig being hotly contested between the men of the village and others from neighbouring villages. Up until the mid 1950s the pig still paid a vital part in the household economy. The saying went. “The only bit of a pig you couldn’t eat was its squeak.” A valued prize. The pig was fed on waste food and fattened up to a good size before being humanely slaughtered by the local pig sticker. The sides were then salted and hung from hooks in the out shed and cottage kitchen. The bacon often 80% fat was vital to that cottager’s family along with the fresh vegetables from his allotment. It must be remembered that work was far more physically demanding, especially farm work where there was often a bike ride to work after a hard days labour, so the high fat meat was soon burnt off.

A man I knew who had been a teenager during the Second World War, said how well they had lived in the country during that time, with vegetables, the pig, fresh eggs, and always the odd rabbit and pigeon and cockerel to supplement their healthy diet. For that is what it was. Living off the land with no preservatives!

Richard Fonge

PC Mel Carter will be with a marked Police Vehicle near to the Village Shop on the Saturday morning to discuss any concerns you may have.

The Organising Committee are always open to any ideas, so please don’t hesitate to come forward with any ideas or help on the day.

Richard Fonge. Chairman. Sulgrave Parish Council.  [email protected]