Does anyone know the happy farmer? (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Does anyone know the happy farmer?

4:23pm Thursday 28th July 2011 in Nostalgia

THERE are many photographs of unnamed men and women in Percy Wood’s collection and this farmer is one of them.

Someone must recognise who he was and where he farmed, although 40 years after the photograph was taken in March 1968, he must be long retired or his farm may now be in other hands.

Farmers in our area, and all who farm on marginal hill land, have had a hard time in recent years, and it can only be for love of their land and their animals that they keep going.

The past two severe winters, the horrors of foot and mouth, endless regulations and paperwork required by DEFRA and the low prices paid by the supermarkets and the Wool Board for milk and wool, must have combined to make life well nigh unsupportable for many farming families.

But this farmer in 1968 looks quite cheerful!

Perhaps he has just had a good day at the Auction Mart, and sold a few fat lambs for a decent price.

There must be some reason for the Gazette photographer to have taken this picture.

Who knows – and does anyone know him?