Anrhydeddau i ffermwyr o Gymru
A Mid Wales farmer who won his first prize for hedgelaying at 14 years of age and went on to win the All-Wales Hedging Championship 10 times, has been made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies.
Tom Evans of Beulah, Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, had his first lessons in hedgelaying at Edw Valley YFC, near Builth Wells, when he was 13 and during his 54 year career in hedging beat 100 other competitors to win the British National title in a match at Ledbury, Herefordshire.
“I take great pleasure in hedging and in the last 12 years I have helped my son to lay about 25 miles of hedge some of which had not been laid for over 70 years,” he said.
Tom, who was recently filmed while hedging as part of a countryside programme for Japanese television has passed on his expertise running hedging classes for the British Wool Marketing Board and Radnor YFC, where he is attempting to revive the Radnorshire style of hedgelaying.
His skills have not been confined to hedging, however. He is also well known as an expert shearer – he has taught shearing for the Agricultural Training Board – and as a commentator. Commentating on shearing has taken him to many leading UK shows, Ireland and New Zealand and he was part of the commentating team at the World Shearing Championships at the Royal Welsh Show last year.
Ten Associates of the Royal Agricultural Societies in Wales have been progressed to Fellowships. They are:
Terry Clarke of Martletwy, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, left the building industry to take up farming. He established a herd of pedigree Holstein Friesians and has successfully integrated his dairy farming enterprise with an extensive conservation scheme creating a corridor of land the length of the farm to encourage indigenous flora and fauna to flourish, particularly the Marsh Fritillary butterfly on one of its most important sites in Europe.
A former winner of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society’s most prestigious prize, the Sir Bryner Jones Award, he and his wife, Mary, won the FWAG Silver Lapwing Farm Conservation Award in 2006 and the RWAS All Wales Agri-Environment Award in the following year.
He is a member of the RWAS board of management and chairman of the society’s Livestock Committee.
Harry Fetherstonhaugh of Abergele, Conwy, has been Honorary Director of the Royal Welsh Show since 1995. Responsible with the aid of 13 assistant Honorary Directors for the smooth running of the event which attracts over 200,000 visitors from across Britain and overseas, his involvement with the show began more than 30 years ago as a gate steward. Since then he has served the RWAS in numerous roles including chairing several of the society’s key committees. He has been for many years vice chairman of the board of management and was interim chairman for a period of 18 months. Last year he devoted 45 working days to the affairs of the society, commuting nearly 14,000 miles between his home in North Wales to attend meetings at Builth Wells and elsewhere. He farms extensively in North Wales and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Clwyd.
Peter Guthrie of Llyswen, Brecon, is a former company secretary of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society. Previously he managed an 800 acre farm in Pembrokeshire and had been a lecturer in agricultural education for 14 years. He was made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies in 2005 for his work on developing sponsorship for the society. He is well known as an authority on beekeeping. A queen bee breeder and honey producer, he has contributed to research and work on the control of virus infection which threatened the destruction of the bee population and is an inspector of bee stocks for DEFRA.
Picton Jones of Llanwnen, Lampeter, Ceredigion, is a veteran poultry farmer who has contributed to the development of the breeding and showing of poultry to help ensure the survival of traditional breeds. He won his first prize showing poultry when he was 10 years old and in a remarkable career as an exhibitor has won an average 250 prizes a year achieving the pinnacle of success in 1981 when he won the supreme championship at London’s Alexandra Palace after beating 5000 other entries. He has inspired and encouraged many young newcomers to become enthusiastic poultry keepers often giving them quality breeding stock as an incentive. He was made an Honorary Life Governor of the RWAS in 1998 in recognition of 50 years service to the show.
Tim Prichard of Llantrisant, Glamorgan, is a successful breeder of pedigree Charollais sheep and Welsh Mountain Ponies and a well known exhibitor and judge who has officiated in show rings in the UK and Ireland, Australia and America. His renowned Castellau flock has produced many champions and achieved high prices at pedigree sales. He is a former Welsh regional chairman and council member of the British Charollais Sheep Society and a past chairman and president of Llantrisant YFC.
Richard Evans of Bryncrug, Tywyn, Gwynedd, started farming as a tenant in 1986 before purchasing the farm three years later and beginning an improvement programme by reseeding 50-60 acres of difficult and stony ground a year while at the same time tripling stock numbers to 900 ewes and 60 cows. A farm tourism
business has also been developed with self-catering units in converted farm buildings and today this all-grassland unit is recognised as a fine example of hill and lowland farming. Mr Evans is a former county chairman and president of Merioneth NFU and is a local community councillor.
Peter Rees of Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, is Vice Principal and former Director of Coleg Sir Gâr, Gelli Aur. He led the development of Gelli Aur as a Network of Excellence College with the establishment of the Farm Diversification and Technology Centre. The centre provides Welsh agriculture with a valued source enabling a wide range of development work undertaken in the dairy farming sector. The knowledge and information communicated to farmers results in tangible benefits for the industry.
Brian Roberts of Welshpool, Powys, was made an Associate in 2005 in recognition of his distinguished achievements in Welsh agriculture. He is considered by his peers to be one of the most progressive and successful sheep farmers in Wales. He was one of the founders of the Welsh Mule Sheep Breeders Association and has been its chairman for over 10 years. His Welsh Mule sheep regularly attract the highest prizes at the breed’s annual sales and he has successfully exhibited and judged sheep at the major UK shows.
Dr Nigel Scollan of Llangwyryfon, Aberystwyth, is a former Principal Research Scientist at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research where he worked on nutrition for beef animals. Since the formation of the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) by the merger of IGER with Aberystwyth University, he has become leader of the Animal Microbial Sciences team and one of the Institute’s senior managers responsible for outreach activities and the Centre of Excellence for UK farming. In 2007 he received the British Society of Animal Science Sir John Hammond Memorial Prize and he has also been appointed a Special Professor in animal nutrition in the School of Biosciences at Nottingham University.
Richard Williams of Tremadog, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, farms land reclaimed from the sea which is still susceptible to flooding. Extensive reclamation has transformed what was once coarse river bottom into productive land supporting a dairy herd. A life-long member of the YFC he represented Wales at the YFC World Conference in Paris and is a former chairman of the England and Wales International Committee. He is a former county chairman of the NFU in mid Gwynedd, local director of NFU Mutual Insurance and a past chairman of the North Wales Holstein Club executive committee.