The Tamworth Breeders’ Club Winter 2009/10 Volume 4, Issue 3 TamworthTamworth Bumper Tamworths - issue!! The future’s orange! TrumpetTrumpet

Tamworth Sculpture

ick Bibby is based in Devon and is a world renowned animal sculptor. Having done cattle and N sheep, including a famous White Park, he approached Cranbourne Estate to come and pho- Inside this issue: tograph a champion Tamworth. He also approached Julian Collings for a British Lop and Sue Fieldes for a Berkshire. He then produced the sculpture from the pictures he took. The boar was Tamworth Sculpture 1 champion Young Pig of the Year at Hatfield in 2006 for the Marquess of Salisbury.

Tamworth Trifles 2

Chairman’s Message 3

Rocking All Over 4-5 Everything Bar Squeal 6-7

Tamworth Festival 8-9

The Peel Family 10-11

AGM 2009 12 Crossbred’s Best 13

Reflections on a Pig 14-15

Toller Lucky Lass 26 16

Scottish Push 17-19 Further information on the sculpture, including how to order, can be found at www.nickbibby.co.uk. 1st Champ of Champs 19 The pig bronzes will form part of an exhibition ‘Champion Animals’ to be held at Sladmore Contem- porary Gallery, 32 Bruton Place, off Berkeley Square, London W1 between March 25th and April 16th. Memories of Royal 11, Phone 020 7499 0365 for further details. Show 15 & 20

Tamworth Trumpet Help spread the word—recruit a new member at every opportunity. Crane Glen 3 winning Young Pig of the Year at Hatfield (right), and as a mature boar (above) as sculpted by Nick Bibby Pa ge 2 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Tamworth Trifles by Dreamboy

t was good to see the Tamworth breed well represented at the I BPA's 125th anniversary dinner. As we were one of the original breeds which founded the old NPBA in 1884, it was very apt that there were several distinguished Tamworth breeders awarded long service certificates. Our President, Caroline Wheatley-Hubbard, received her award on behalf of the Boyton pigs which had been recording pedigrees since 1925. Geoff Wilson from Yorkshire was awarded a certificate for starting the Rufforth herd more than 50 years ago. Geoff has kindly agreed to write an article for a future Trumpet outlining highlights of the Rufforth herd history - he must be perhaps the only exhibitor in the country to have won the Royal Show 5 times or more!! The Kiddy family received an accolade having started in pedi- gree pigs back in 1946 and have added Tamworths to their list of breeds rather more recently. Both Tamworth stalwarts, Eric Brown and Kathleen Pile, started their herds in 1984 and are still out in the rings showing regularly. Viki Mills has only just given up her last Tamworth pig having started her pedigree herd back in 1977 down in Devon. For the past 30 years she and her family have been part of the furniture around the show rings of Great Britain and I doubt there is a pig show in the country which she has not visited either showing or judging at some time since then.

It is good to see so many younger people associated with Tamworth pigs becoming involved in the newly established young people's section of the BPA which has been so enthusiastically set up by a distinguished group of pig breeders, including the Bretherton family. Take Sarah Kiddy, apart from all her appearances in show rings around the country showing Rufforth Dream Boy was breed champion at the RASE in 1955 not only the family pigs but also Shuttleworth College, she has been very for the Wilson family. prominent in young pig handler classes around the place. She was a star at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, USA helping to promote British pig keeping and pork. At the English Winter Fair she again shone both in helping show the family pigs and in the many demonstra- tions she got involved with. Her brother, Nick, has also had a great year promoting pigs in many shows. He has now been elected Vice Chairman of the BPA Show Committee and it is great to see a younger person becoming more involved in the organisation. The redoubtable James Sage has also had a memorable year. He was also very prominent at Expo (especially, I am told, enjoying the visual pleasures of the hotel swimming pool). Along with the Beck brothers from Wales and 2 young rascal helpers from the Chair- man's Shutevale herd James had a very memorable and enjoyable eve- ning at the BPA dance following the presentations at Lutterworth. It must be a record as he has been with his current girlfriend, Adele, for more than 6 months!! I wonder if we will be able to persuade him to start breeding Tamworths alongside his Saddlebacks in addition to be- ing a member of the Tamworth Club? I hear the Sage coat of arms is one boar rampant fessed with two reclining gilts!! It was great to see Claire Gibson from Billquay out on the apprentice judging scheme (as put forward by the Tamworth breed reps). She did a sterling job proving that she will make an excellent full blown judge in the near future. Always looking very glamorous, I did wonder whether some of the many young gentlemen watching the judging were looking at her rather more often than the pigs!! (Claire has written an article elsewhere in the Trumpet). Finally, our young Welsh Tamworth supporter, Steph from Greenmeadow Community Farm has also had a very exciting year showing many pigs Tamworths on display—part of Carolyn’s organisation was to produce and very ably assisting with the show and sale at Ross on Wye. these well-stocked display units. Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3 Pa ge 3

Message from your Chairman by Nick Hunkin

hat extremes of weather we have all experi- enced in the UK recently. 2009 W started with a prolonged cold spell in January and February and the summer turned out to be a mixture of heavy rain with the occasional spell of extremely humid heatwaves. Luckily we had one of these in time to ensure a relatively successful har- vest. The year ended on another cold spell and as I write early in 2010 we are in the middle of the coldest spell for 30 years. Luckily for us all, we are associated with one of the most climatically resilient of all pig breeds worldwide. The Tamworth positively thrives in temperatures as low as -48 degrees in Canada and elsewhere but is also very sun and heat resistant and enjoys as much the dust bowls of Australia with equal enthusiasm.

By the time the showing season is underway later in the year, we shall have experienced yet another General Election. Let's hope whoever achieves power will invest seriously in our once buoyant British agriculture which does seem to have been seriously ne- glected in recent years. With our superb grass producing climate it seems strange that imports of food especially milk are on the in- crease when we have such expertise around the country to produce the goods ourselves.

2009 was another fabulous year for the breed with increasing favourable comments from breeders of other pig types and interbreed judges as to how much we are improving as a breed. I believe we have some tremen- dously talented breeders on board the Tamworth rollercoaster at the moment and the result of all those genetic selections and pedigree expertise is there for all to see at the “I believe we have major shows around the country. I feel it is important to encourage all this talent to ex- press itself and therefore be good for the development of the breed as a whole. I was some tremendously therefore very pleased to hear that Bill Howes wanted a spell of representing the breed at the BPA and has now subsequently been elected to take the helm with Caroline for the talented breeders on next 3 years. I am sure Bill will bring a wealth of pig keeping experience to the role and board the Tamworth will do a fantastic job promoting the breed at the BPA.

rollercoaster “ Unfortunately as I write the economic downturn of the last 2 years is still with us, al- though things seem to be slowly improving. All breeds of pig have lost a number of breeders in the last 2 years and let's hope 2010 brings more hopeful news on the financial front.

To me one of the highlights of the year was the Tamworth Festival so ably organised by Carolyn and her stalwarts. It would be nice to think that one day we could have a repeat performance but as with all things connected with local politics, it very much depends what is discussed in the Council chamber.

Finally, I do hope you all have a great New Year and that you continue to enjoy your association with the Tamworth breed.

NICK

Tamworth Points Cup Here are the results of the 2009 Tamworth Points Cup: 1st Shutevale Princess 792 Nick Hunkin 82pts 2nd Stoneymoor Jacqueline 28 Bill Howes 73 3rd Tudful Yorkshireman 18 Liz Shankland 50 4th Raisinhall Melody 7 Stuart Roberts and Jodie Fairclough 28 This is awarded to the individual animal that wins most prizes at shows throughout the season. July and January pigs often have an advantage as they usually stay the course all season. It is good to see Liz Shankland and Roberts and Fairclough climbing Memories from the Tamworth Festival (with some summer showers). the ladder so rapidly - Hunkin and Howes beware !!! More photos inside. Photos by Carolyn McInnes Pa ge 4 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Rocking All Over The World by Simon Porter

was brought up in rural Essex when it was still a very agricultural I county. When I was at school , my main ambition was to be either a vet or to get involved in the music business. To this day, I still don’t know if they were subjects that were Polar opposites or totally linked! My grandparents lived just outside Sudbury in Suffolk and their next door neighbour s were a family called Minter who had a herd of Large White pigs. I used to visit my grandparents most weekends and from the age of 6 onwards became very involved in helping with the pigs. I soon became one of the family and along with the Minter kids had a pig named after me. The fact that this was a sow didn't seem to matter at the time but maybe she should have been called Simone! I remember visiting one weekend just as she was about to farrow and staying up till 3am making sure her farrowing was without a hitch - by this time I was 11 Simon Porter (left) with Alexandra Burke (winner of X Factor I always feel years old! Since those days I 2008) and Francis Rossi of Status Quo. have always had a penchant for responsible for all things porcine and for many years used to visit many of the East of England shows getting Nick which had classes for pigs including of course my own county show the Essex but also the Suffolk and the East of England where I would invariably watch the final of the pig of the involved with year competition when it was held there. pigs! When I finished my O levels at school fate took a hand in the future direction of my career as I noticed in the New Musical Express an advert for a temporary post boy (these days it would be post person!) at Pye records. Having contacted them and been offered an interview, I got the job and at the end of the ini- tial 3 months , I must have so impressed them that they offered me a permanent job in the promotions department. In those days Pye was a very prominent label and I had an amazing couple of years helping to promote some of the top artists of the day. I remem- ber my first assignment was Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas which made number 1 in the charts. During my time at Pye, I worked with a range of artistes from Des O'Connor, through to Mungo Jerry to Barry White - a wide musical spectrum! The main switchboard lady at Pye had given me a room at her flat to enable me to live near work, but by the time I had been at Pye 18 months, I found my own flat and decided to move on.

I then moved very briefly to a specialist record company called Penny Far- thing - working with the likes of The Troggs and legendary record producer Larry Page - before landing the head of publicity job at Bronze Records, which was one of the leading independent rock labels of its day. Here I had a fantastic job which involved travelling around the world in the firm's private executive jet and attending many gigs just at the age where I enjoyed it most (19!). Here I worked with wonderful names like Uriah Heep, Manfred Mann, and Motorhead to name but a few. I well remember taking Uriah Heep for a major album launch in the revolving restaurant at Mount Shilthorne just after one of the James Bond movies was shot there. The high altitude meant that one alcoholic drink became the equivalent of 6 (a phenomenon associ- ated with altitude!). To coin a phrase, not a lot of people knew this and we ended up with a lot of very drunk press and media people surprised at their state as they had only had 2 drinks!! I had a wonderful time at Bronze but Simon with Cilla Battersby Brown on the set of Coronation realised if I was going to make the top echelons I would need to start my Street - getting Status Quo into the plot was a great coup! own business, so in 1985 I left Bronze to start my own public relations com- pany. Once again I harked back to my love of all things porcine and named the company Duroc Media which coincidentally fitted very nicely into the concept of marketing rock bands. About the same time, my wife Christine and I took a visit to Devon to see my old mate Nick Hunkin who I had met a few years previously in London. Nick and his wife Liz had moved into a lovely old cottage

Pa ge 5 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3 which had various parcels of land surrounding it. There was one detached piece of land with a lovely stream running through it which was semi woodland and a chance remark by Nick wondering what he might do with this bit of land prompted me to suggest what an ideal pig area it would be. A few weeks later when I was back in London, Nick phoned me to say he had acquired a beauti- ful Tamworth gilt bred by a lady called Viki Mills and, as they say, the rest is history! I always feel responsible for getting Nick in- volved with pigs!

I soon started growing Duroc Media and attracting and represent- ing some very well known bands and stars, including Smokey Rob- inson, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Gene Pitney, Neil Sedaka, Michael Crawford, Robbie Coltrane, Paul Rodgers and Status Quo. I also landed the PR for a number of years for the motorcycle Simon and Christine Porter expect to be pig keepers one day. Grand Prix at Donnington and the 1993 European Formula 1 Grand Prix . In 2001, I was offered the full time management of Status Quo which I decided to take on. The size and scope of Status Quo has been awesome and I have done the most exciting promotions all over the world. As I write this article, I face 6 weeks of international travelling, first to Dubai, then Australia, South Africa and Russia. I have concocted some wonderful promotions for Quo. One of the most memorable was taking the media (including television, press and radio) on the Orient Express down to Ports- mouth and transferring everyone on to HMS Ark Royal for a huge promotion and video. The whole event was highlighted using heli- copters and fighter planes. This took a lot of time to organise and remains my most prominent and favourite promotion. I had to pull a lot of strings to get it off the ground. I also remember getting Status Quo to appear in a couple of episodes of I still keep my passion for Coronation Street which was also a great coup. I am still managing Status Quo and finding it more than a full time job. pigs and fully intend to

keep some when I finally Throughout all this time, I still keep my passion for pigs and fully intend to keep hang my music some when I finally hang my music management hat up for good and stop travelling management hat up for so much. I keep my hand in by visiting Hatfield and Royal Berks shows regularly where I run into Nick usually on the end of a microphone! Although I can't say I good. fancy one breed any more than another, I do have a very soft spot for Tamworths and you never know - this may be one of my breeds of choice one day.

Sarah Thatcher is running pig-keeping courses in Devon . The dates are Saturday March 20th 10am - 3pm and Saturday April 17th 10am -3pm. There will be more dates in May and June. “Our courses were started due to our customers requests and we saw a need and thought why not pass on some knowledge. I was a large animal veterinary nurse for 10 years working with both outdoor and indoor pig units before getting my own free range pigs. “We will be covering rules and regulations, feed, health, bio security, breeds and the importance of pedigree pigs and rare breeds, housing, fencing, slaughter and will touch on breeding and farrowing and selecting pedigree breeding stock. “The course will be run on the farm near Chumleigh, North Devon, all our details are available on our website www.highlandshogs.co.uk ” * * * * * Newsletter Editor, Richard Lutwyche, has a new book about to be published by the National Trust entitled Pig-Keeping . Aimed at helping the less-experienced pig keeper it covers buying and finishing pigs for meat, breeding and the importance of pedigree, marketing and selling meat and much more. The book costs £7.99 and will be available at http://www.oldspots.org.uk/shop.asp in due course or around the shows in the coming season. Autographed copies for Club members at no extra cost!

Hardback 96pp with colour illustrations. Pa ge 6 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Everything Bar The Squeal by Dee Tracey

Berkswell in Warwickshire is synonymous with the Tamworth breed since it was on their estate there that the Wheatley- Hubbards began their famous herd all those years ago and without which we might just not have Tamworths today. Bill & Shirley Howes found this story of pig keeping in times past.

ew people these days know how to cure a pig for bacon, but this was not the case F centuries ago, when it was natural for every cottager to have his own pig, nor even 45 years ago when the War meant that many people joined the Pig Clubs that sprang up all over the country, and had to learn the hard way! Berkswell had a Pig Club which met at The Bear Inn, and being predominantly an agricultural area fared better than most. The pre-packed bacon bought in today’s supermarket bears little resemblance, however, to the flitches of bacon hung in village cottages many years ago; running a freezer would have been a little difficult in the days of candle power. Berkswell village celebrated the coronation of George VI in 1937. The many different events included a “Bowling for a Pig” competition. Contestants had 3 balls for 3d. and the winner, whose name, unfortunately, is not recorded, went home with a fine pig kindly do- nated by Col Wheatley. We do not know what happened to the pig, nor if the winner knew how to make the most of what we must assume was a most valuable prize. To cure successfully is not simple. Experience and knowledge are needed, and during the War many people found their precious carcase was inedible because the curing had not been done with the care and skill needed. Pigs are fattened up and killed between November and March, the average weight these days being 300 lbs and the animal 12 to 15 months old. Years ago a cottagers pig would not have been so large, mainly because its food would not have been anything much more than that found whilst foraging. Slaughter then would normally have been done by the owner; however, the Census shows that Daniel Bates was a Butcher in 1851. He lived with his wife, Sarah, and five children in Back Lane; he was still there, at the age of 79, in 1871, when his occupation is described as “pig-killer, past work”. In more recent times Pig killing and processing took place at the professional assistance has often been required, and the names of Jim Tilley who lived at owner’s cottage or farm. the cottage which is now Berkswell Museum, Jack Chamberlaine, Harry Taylor, Sos Warm- ingham and Tom Wise will be familiar to many, whilst at least one expert is known to have travelled to Berkswell and Balsall Com- mon from Kenilworth. A charge of about 30/- would have been made for their services. Once a pig has been slaughtered, it is singed with burning straw to remove all the bristles, then scrubbed clean, and, after dressing, hung up by the head and left to set for about 24 hours. The pig is then cut up. First the head is removed, then the body is cut in half (this is a process that requires more care than might be immediately obvious, as it is claimed that on one occasion a pig, having been cut in half on a table, fell to the floor as the table has also been cut through – no mean feat!). The trotters are then cut off and the hams shaped, meat and bones are removed from the flitches (side) and the carcase is then ready for curing. Berkswell, in years gone by, with its large areas of meadow, pasture and waste, was different from surrounding parishes and did not have a great problem of over- wintering stock. When animals were slaughtered though, it was obviously essential to cure their carcase, and this entailed either salting or smoking. The Inventory of Henry Cattell, who lived in Berkswell and died in March 1693, tells us he cured by smoking, as he had “meat in the chimney” worth 8s.0d. Nevertheless, from a study of the Inventories we have for Berkswell between 1550 and 1750, it seems likely that although smoking did take place, salt curing was the method most often used. Salt, a necessity of life, has in pre-Roman times been obtained by boiling seawater in vats, and this industry developed further under the Romans. However, it seems likely that salt was brought to Berkswell from the salt-spring at Droitwich, over the Pack- horse bridge into the parish from Hampton. An Inventory of Richard Reves, a weaver who lived in Berkswell in the early seventeenth century, tells us that he had “provisions in the house” valued at £2.10.0d., which included four flitches of bacon and one gallon of salt. His total inventory value was £67.13.5d. In recent times block salt has been used, which comes in a block and is cut up and warmed before being spread all over the meat, which has been put into a salting vat, and salt-petre is sprinkled round the knucklebones. Great care is needed to get the salt into every nook and cranny; if done successfully the meat will keep for months, if not ……. I will spare the reader the consequences, as I will spare him the details of cutting up other parts of the pig. Enough to say that nothing is wasted except the squeal! A cutting diagram from 1792. Most modern butch- ers would not recognise most of these joints. The meat is left in the vat for seven days, by which time a lot of the salt will have been absorbed. It is then turned and more salt added; at all times the meat must be cov- ered. Offal will be ready after about ten days. A few Berkswell inventories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries specify offal, though it is spelt “auffull”- Dorothy Clarke, widow, who died in 1684 had two flitches bacon and other auffull meat valued at £1.3s.0d. (School children may prefer the old spelling, taking it literally!) Sides are ready about 14 days, depending on the size of the pig, and the hams after a further week. The meat is then hung in a warm place to cure. One or two Inventories studied have specified this last process: Robert Casemore, a husbandman, whose inventory is dated 25 th January 1600, had “beef and bacon in the roof Pa ge 7 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3 and white meat” valued at 10s.od. No live pigs are recorded, which shows that he had no over-wintering swine. Other Inventories give references to pig troughs (salting vats) and pig cratches, such as is shown in the Inventory of Thomas Stone, a yeoman, dated 24 th December 1669, who had “one bacon cratch” in the Hall, a cratch being a rack pulled up to the beams by rope. Often Inventories show bacon in the hall. In the 1619 Inventory of William Chapline, a husbandman, two flitches of bacon, valued at 10s.0d. are recorded as be- ing “in the Hall”; and John Ellis, a tailor, who died in 1634 had “in the Hall, bacon in the roof”, showing us not only the method of preservation but one of the earliest identified building styles – a Hall House. Occasionally, there are signs that the bacon is actually being eaten! George Kimberley’s inventory, taken in May 1672 records meat “in the kitchen – three flitches and one halfe of bacon”. He was a husbandman and also had two pigs and other stock. Centuries ago, the number of pigs belonging to each family was not large, An engraving from 1815. although there were exceptions; for instance, according to inventory evidence, both George Higford in 1554 and Richard Walker in 1569 are shown as having owned thirteen pigs. In 1718, Richard Greenway, a yeoman, had eighteen pigs (11 store pigs and seven hoggs). Largish holdings were rather more common by the late 19 th century, when auction catalogues for Blind Hall Farm tell us that in 1895 they had two sows and twelve strong store pigs, plus five sides of home-cured bacon, six hams and two chawls and, in 1896, eighteen fat and store pigs. Pig keeping in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was much less complicated than today, with the animals being allowed free- dom to forage for their food. The Court Rolls give us some idea of the problems this could cause, with various references to the need to keep swine ringed; in 1614, for instance, “all shall have his pigs ringed when notice is given on pain (i.e. fine) of 2s.4d.” – quite a large amount of money, especially for the ordinary smallholder or labourer. In the inventories, however, there are one or two refer- ences to more modern methods of pig keeping. John Arch’s Inven- tory of 1704, tells us that he had “one small pig in the sty” valued at 6s.4d. Other inventories mention “a fat hogg” (obviously very near its time for slaughter), “porkets”, “storepigs”, “feeding pigs” and “swine”. All were valued by weight, and the various names help to indicate that their age and weight are likely to be. One interesting feature to come from studying the Wills and Inven- tories up to 1750, is that although most people had bacon or pigs, or both, they were often lumped together with poultry on an Inven- tory, and on only two occasions are they mentioned as bequests in Wills. William Butler, who died in 1700, stated that his wife, Ursula, should have a number of things including “my hogg if not killed before my death; if killed then the meat thereof that shall remain at my decease”. His inventory values a “hogg” at £1.10s.0d., along with bacon and household provisions, so she did well – the hogg The French artist, Millet, depicts a reluctant pig ‘being led down the gar- was a valuable item. Pigs, therefore, were more valuable than their den path’ to be killed and butchered. treatment seems to indicate, and for centuries they have been an essential part of the rural economy. This article could not have been written without help from many sources, but particularly from Mr Jim Thompson of Hodgetts Lane, who has given invalu- able advice on how to cure pork for bacon. Illustrations from the Editor’s collection. ______Jimmy’s Farm Eyes Up Jacqueline TV farmer Jimmy Doherty took a real shine to Liz Shankland’s Tamworth gilt, Tudful Jacqueline 20, at the BPA Show and Sale at Ross-on-Wye. The star of Jimmy’s Farm was there to buy stock and also to film part of his new BBC farming series, one episode of which is all about pigs.

The January gilt won her class at the Royal Show, was reserve female breed champion, and won the Tamworth pairs class with her brother. She was up for sale because Liz, who farms near Caerphilly, south Wales, wants to get a variety of female bloodlines in her Tudful Herd. Jimmy did his opening piece to camera in the pig pen before going into the auction hall to snap up some nice Berkshires and Middle Whites.

Sadly, Liz’s gilt didn’t end up at Jimmy's famous Ipswich farm. The presenter explained afterwards that a friend of his had also fancied her, so he nobly agreed not to bid against him - so the gilt went to a new home just a few miles away. Jimmy Doherty with the one that got away. Photo by Liz Shankland. Liz is now looking for a replacement, so if anyone has a gilt or young sow for sale - any bloodline apart from Jacqueline - please get in touch. [email protected] or 07846 449023. Pa ge 8 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

The Tamworth Festival by Nick Hunkin

erhaps the greatest highlight of 2009 from the Tamworth point P of view was the Borough Council Festival at Tamworth Castle held on 30 August. Pigs appearing at the festival had been suggested and was co-ordinated by Councillor Bruce Broughton of Tamworth Borough Council who along with his colleagues set the whole thing up from their end. The festival is an annual event which has proved to be very popular and successful for local people and attendances over the years have been extremely good.

Councillor Broughton initially contacted Carolyn to sound out whether Tamworth breeders would support coming along to the festival and along with Bill and Shirley Howes she spent a lot of time attending meetings and organising the whole event from our point of view. The Council wanted to raise local public awareness about its "local" pig and A proud Nick Hunkin with Champion, Shutevale Princess 792 thought that a demonstration with as many pigs present as possible would be the ideal way to achieve this. Carolyn and Bill negotiated a Tamworth pig zone at the swimming pool end of the field and they both put in a great deal of work and effort to set up the perfect site - which is what we eventually got.

Tamworth is nowadays a somewhat industrial town and has lost much of its medieval charm. However, the castle is a most impressive and edifying building and the grounds beneath it are very attractive and maintained very well by the Council. We were provided with an open ended gazebo marquee which was ideal for the job in hand. There was a good judging ring out in front with plenty of room for the public to view proceedings. We had four show classes with lots of prize money and an overall champion and reserve champion. Caro- lyn had arranged plenty of displays and show boards which gave a very good description of the breed and there was even a display about the Tamworth Barbara Warren and Bill Howes trying to catch the judge’s Two. The festival around us turned out to be a huge event with lots of side eye in the sow class. shows, trade stands, events and a huge funfair which was opposite the pigs.

Caroline Wheatley-Hubbard had agreed to come and judge the event and we ended up with exhibitors from all over the country. Caroline was delighted with the quality of the entries and pleased that she could find no bad examples of Tam- worth pigs on display. Consequently there was something for every exhibitor and no-one went home empty handed where prize money was concerned. It was rather a coincidence that Ann Petch had so recently examined her family history as she is a direct descendant of Sir Robert Peel. Drayton Manor which is some 5 miles outside Tamworth was of course the family seat and it is now a famous theme park. Elsewhere in the Trumpet there is an article by Ann about the Tam- worth pig side of her family research.

We all had a wonderful day and hope that the experience might be repeated in future years. Unfortunately a local MP had kicked off in the local press the week Liz Shanland came over from Wales to show her gilt, before about the possibility of us bringing swine flu to Tamworth second in the class. and as knowledge of the virus was in its infancy at that time this may have had a negative effect on us as it got huge coverage the week before. Also these things very much depend on the local political climate and since our event there has been some change politically on Tamworth BC and so at this stage it seems unlikely that there will be a repeat per- formance in the near future. Finally we owe Carolyn an enormous debt of gratitude for all the hard work which went into the organisation of this event especially as she moved house only 3 days before!! We must also mention Bill and Shirley Howes who put a lot of time into the organisation. Let's hope we can do it all again some time!! Pa ge 9 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

RESULTS: Class 1, SOW, born before 1 st July 2008 1st C G & S J Howes 2nd Mrs Barbara Warren 3rd Mr Nick Hunkin

Class 2, GILT, born on or after 1 st July 2008 1st Mr Nick Hunkin 2nd Ms Liz Shankland 3rd C G & S J Howes

Class 3, GILT, born on or after 1 st September 2008 1st C G & S J Howes 2nd S Roberts & J Fairclough 3rd Mrs Barbara Warren 4th S Roberts & J Fairclough

“This was Class 4, GILT, born in 2009 Dreamboy’s 1st Mrs Barbara Warren most enjoyable 2nd S Roberts & J Fairclough Royal to date…” 3rd C G & S J Howes 4th Mr Nick Hunkin 5th Ms Liz Shankland

Class 5, BOAR, born in 2009 1st S Roberts & J Fairclough 2nd Ms Liz Shankland

Reserve Champion Female - C G & S J Howes, Stoneymoor Melody 14 Champion Female - Mr Nick Hunkin, Shutevale Princess 792

Reserve Champion Male - Ms Liz Shankland, Tudful Yorkshireman 18 Champion Male - S Roberts & J Fairclough, Raisinhall Royal Standard 3

Reserve Supreme Champion - S Roberts & J Fairclough, Raisinhall Royal Standard 3 Supreme Champion - Mr Nick Hunkin, Shutevale Princess 792

Top to botton: Tamworth Castle; Tamworth gran- dees Bill Howes and Nick Hunkin in the pig lines; judge Caroline Wheatley-Hubbard meets the exhibi- tors after judging is complete; you’ve heard of golf widows - this is Liz Hunkin, a microphone widow! Photos by Carolyn McInnes. Pa ge 10 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

The Peel Family and Tamworth Pigs by Anne Petch

With recollections from my maternal Grandmother and Great Uncles he Peel family were yeoman farmers from Peelfold, near Bury in Lancashire. Tradition- T ally, in slack times, the smallscale weaving of cotton and linen was practised to supple- ment agricultural incomes.

The industrial revolution was earth-shattering. New inventions mechanised nearly all the opera- tions, cleaning, carding, spinning and weaving were all moved into large factories. The one proc- ess stuck in the middle ages was the printing of cloth. This was still done by winching engraved, wooden blocks, painted with fabric dye down onto the cloth, thumping the block hard with mal- lets, raising, re-dyeing and lowering the block down again after the cloth was moved on, the proc- ess being repeated until the end of the roll was reached.

The holy grail of the cotton industry was to mechanise the final stage, printing. In the late 1730s The red-haired Sir Robert Peel one of my Peel ancestors moved into hand printing cotton cloth. He specialised in a green sprigged design which looked like parsley, he became known as Parsley Peel.

Parsley Peel had a son Robert (later to become the first Baronet), born in 1750, who in his teens set up in business on his own. Robert had a brain- wave - woven cotton and linen came off the looms on rolls so instead of mauling around messy wooden blocks one at a time why not engrave a wide copper roller and pass the cloth under it? The upper surface of the cylinder was in contact with felt pads continually being fed with dye. At a stroke the most complex and expensive operation in the cloth trade was revolution- ised, one man and a machine could produce the output of a hundred men.

Robert Peel became one of the richest men of his age, the first man to be referred to as a millionaire. He employed 15,000 mill hands and died leav- Drayton manor before it became famous as a theme park. ing an estate valued at 2.8 billion pounds in today’s money. Robert Peel bought Drayton Manor and 9000 acres in Staffordshire and stocked the Home Farm with coloured pigs referred to as Axfords. According to my grandmother and great uncles, at about this time Sir Robert Peel shipped in a red boar from Barbados, to be known as the Red Barbadian. He certainly had business interests in the Caribbean where he was promoting the growing of cotton to break the almost total reliance on American cotton for his mills.

(Eighty years later his grandson, my side of the family, moved to and settled in Egypt to set up Peel & Co. Cotton Brokers. This com- pany made a vast fortune during the American Civil War when the price of raw cotton more than quadrupled overnight. We lived in Egypt until 1956 when all Europeans were thrown out during the Suez crisis and European owned businesses were nationalised - there are lots of family stories from that era.)

Back to pigs, the introduction of the Red Barbadian resulted in the characteristic red lustre coated pigs we know today as Tam- worths. When old Sir Robert died in 1830. his son, also Sir Robert (2nd Baronet) inherited Drayton Manor and was elected Member of Parliament for Tamworth (he went on to be Prime Minister twice). He gave generously to local good causes, was president of the Staffordshire Farmers Club and a founder member of the Royal Agricultural Society. It is hardly surprising that he should promote the breed of pig established by his family, after all agricultural improvement was a fascination of the age. He had scores of farming tenants and they would have been happy enough to avail themselves of the new pigs bred by their new landlord.

Footnotes. There is a red haired gene in the Peel family, Robert Peel PM had red hair (like attracted to like?) Pa ge 11 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Footnotes (cont). The Peel family estate had to be sold very quickly to pay off gambling debts - clogs to clogs in three generations! -The 3rd and 4th Baronets were disas- trous gamblers, a lot of the estate records were lost or burned at this time. To recap - Sir Robert Peel the 1st Baronet (the Bill Gates of his age) made the family fortune and imported The Red Barbadian(according to my rela- tions.) His son Sir Robert Peel the 2ndBaronet became twice Prime Minister and promoted his families Tamworth pigs to his tenant farmers. Irish Grazier? Could well be some link/influence Robert Peel 2nd Bt was MP for Cashel in the west of Ireland before becoming MP for Tamworth The Irish Grazier (left with litter) with 2 Berkshires from 1850. (also at some time he was MP for Marlborough). The family did not make a big deal of the pigs - I think I am the first one to be excited about it! They were more focused on the business side and the fact that the second Sir Robert’s favourite son was awarded the first Naval Victoria Cross for picking up and removing a Russian 44 pound mortar bomb that had fallen in to a magazine in the Crimean War. ______Memories of the Royal Show by Bill Howes

The first Royal Show I attended was in 1961 when it was held in Cambridge. The gate counted 93,764 people! In those days, the show travelled the country, and went to its permanent home in Stoneleigh in 1963. I remember the old wooden pig pens that used to travel around. Very dilapidated, but were used for many years. 1964 was the year I finished at farm Institute and some fellow students trained to perform with the ‘Dancing Diggers’ from JCB. One friend was ‘kicked’ out of home because he opted to drive in the display instead of staying home to make the hay! The big open span building we all know and love (?!?) was donated to the RASE by Michael Rosenberg, about 25 years ago, for the sole purpose of pig exhibiting. It was never finished, hence the horrible packed clay floor. We all remember the dust (or mud) and the awful stones to bruise the pig’s feet – and ours. Shirley and I had been breeding Tamworths for about 4 years and were sitting at the ringside watching the judging. ‘We’ve got better than that at home’ we said, more than once. Next year was the same. So we thought we ought to ‘put our money where our mouth is’. So the next year we did. We’ve had great success at all the shows we’ve been to, but the Royal is the most prestigious. Personally, we will miss it as it is our local show. We only live a few miles away! The Kennel Club paid lots of money to revamp and take over the old building. Lovely facility, and we were only allowed to enjoy 2 years of it. – shame!! There is always lots of ‘camaraderie’ amongst pig exhibitors and the Royal was no exception. We had a super party for our Ruby Wedding Anniversary there. There was always a good entry of Tamworths as well. The commentators: Geoffrey Cloke when we started showing there, Mr Snell with his lovely Devon ‘burr’ and let’s not forget the inimitable Nick Hunkin, who brought his own style to the proceedings!

From regular contributor, Charles Campion , comes a new book based on insights gained on what the British public really eats at home. Charles was invited to a numbe rof meals with ordinary families around the country and this is the result—read all about it! Even Chairman Nick gets in on the act with a promo all about Tamworths. Published by Kyle Cathie hardback 176pp with colour illustrations - £16.99 Pa ge 12 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

2009 AGM at Home Farm Tatton Park by Lisa Kennedy

n a cold blustery day in October members of the Tamworth Breed- O ers Club travelled from far and wide to attend their AGM at Home Farm which is set in the grounds of Tatton Park, a historical Na- tional Trust Estate in Cheshire. The day started off with a welcome hot drink which I think was particularly appreciated by those suffering from the effects of the night before, as on the Saturday evening prior to the AGM there was an Anniversary dinner celebrating 125 years of the NPBA/BPA so I have no doubt the wine and lager was flowing! Jayne Chapman then gave everybody a welcome introductory talk, outlining the conservation and educational aims that Home Farm is trying to achieve. Jayne worked as a farm assistant at Tatton for 15 years before becoming the Farm Manager 5 years ago. I for one have been here now for 10 years-it just shows what a lovely place it is to work and Jayne and me are testament to that! We were delighted to be able to host the AGM here at Tatton and ‘do our bit’ for the Tamworth breed. The meeting was full of interesting points and covered quite a wide range of topics. It was then followed by a ploughman’s lunch and apple pie, baked by my own fair hand, (those of you who know me will know whether that is true or not!) Members then had a guided tour around the farm having a look at all our livestock as well as the more historical features of the farm such as the old Black- smith’s cottage and the steam engine, which we are hoping to restore and get up and running for high season this year. Those who were brave enough to stand Jayne’s tractor driving (and brave the elements!) were taken on the people carrier around the 2000 acre parkland to give them an alternative view of Tatton. The AGM was a great day to catch up with like-minded people and good friends and to swap piggy stories! I have always thought it is also so interesting to visit different areas of the country and see how other places are breeding and managing their animals. The AGM is an ideal way to get everybody’s heads together to help come up with future ideas for the support group and launch better ways to promote the Tam- worth pig and the Breeders’ Club, so please come along and join us next year, wherever it may be held, after all, “the more the mer- rier”…… TATTON IS TRANSFORMED INTO A NARNIA WINTER WONDER- LAND! I know we certainly weren’t alone with having snow this December and January and I sympathise with anybody who has been stranded in this snowy weather. …..what a hard way to start 2010! All the water troughs in the field froze first of all and then the water pipes and troughs in the sheds began to freeze, a first ever for as long as I have worked at Tatton. Cheshire even made a new record for its coldest ever temperature on January 7 th ….. a bitter -17 deg. Thermal underwear had never seemed so appealing! It was hard not to feel sorry for the animals that were living outside in winter including our 4 Clydesdale horses (who are looking more like woolly mammoths with their huge thick winter coats on), our flock of 40 sheep and some of our Red Poll cattle, but animals, as always, take everything in their stride and seemed quite happy as long as they were provided with their haylage and carrots. The hardest task was transporting water out to all the stock, a lot of it done by wheelbarrow, a great gym workout! On the other side of the coin I have never seen the park look so beautiful, it really was a magical time and seems to bring out the big kid in us all, even the animals couldn’t resist playing in it, especially the horses. I couldn’t resist taking my camera wherever I went to indulge myself in a few shots of the animals in the snow. I hope you like this little collection of photographs.

Pa ge 13 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Perfection For Me Is A Cross by Richard Nettleton

efore I write this article I would just like to point out this is my opinion and it will no doubt meet with some opposition from B some quarters - I don’t claim to be an expert - far from it but I don’t want to be branded as a newcomer trying to tell everyone how to do their job but what we ended up with suits our needs and most of all our customers’ requirements and after all they are always right.

After long discussions, my partner and I decided to purchase two pigs to breed from and which would provide good quality pork for family and friends. We em- barked on the long process of visiting farms, gardens, smallholdings etc. looking at different pigs and this was a real eye opener as some of the pigs were closer to death than I’d like to be but not put off we eventually came across an advertise- ment in the local paper for pedigree Tamworths. My partner and her friend went of to see the pigs. Once there it became apparent that these were quality weaners as it was a reputable breeder, Angela Roberts from Portinscale, Cumbria. Two gilts were purchased and named Delia and Primrose which were to become our 2 breeding sows.

On arrival home the two gilts were put into a shed to settle before being put into Tamworth x GOS pigs. their outdoor paddock. After a few weeks it became apparent that these pigs would take considerable time to produce piglets and fatten them so we decided to purchase two weaners to fatten which were Saddle- back crosses. This is where the steep learning curve started. We fed these pigs well on pig nuts, garden waste, bread, goats milk etc, The pigs were ready in March 2007 and were taken to a local abattoir after which a friend was coming to butcher them for us. I went to the abattoir to pick the pigs’ carcases up - I had big plans for these pigs!

At the abattoir I was met by rows of pigs hanging - nice lean pigs they were. Then we got to ours. If the heads had not been on and tags still in I would have sworn they weren’t ours as they were the fattest pigs I have ever seen with at least two inches or more and I’m a big believer in fat on meat! As my old granddad used to say to the butcher, “cut the fat off and throw meat away”. Most the meat from these two pigs was to return favours to people who had helped us set up so it wasn’t the end of the world. We decided to buy 5 weaners next as we had a lot of people wanting to buy from us so we went for GOS x Saddleback. We fed these a bit differ- ently to try and reduce the fat levels to get a more saleable pig. When these were ready off they went - same again, fat pigs but not quite as bad,.

So back to the drawing board. In the meantime our two girls had been put in pig to the Tamworth boar and Delia pigged first with just a small litter of four. She had the perfect farrowing shed with heat lamps and the works but she trashed that and bust out to get back with her sister and pig outside in the ark in the frost and snow with her sister next to her. It was obvious these pigs weren’t go- ing to separate easily so we reinforced the sheds and Primrose pigged two weeks later with the same result—four piglets. And a few days later they trashed the place and got back together again with the piglets all running together until weaning. The girls were then put back to the Tamworth again after a bit of dieting to try and improve litter size. All 8 piglets were fattened but although still quite fatty they were a big improvement so we persevered. The butcher, who was also the slaughter man, told us to bring them down a month earlier the next time which we did. He took one look at the pigs laughed and said, “bloody hell, you’ve brought me some rac- ing pigs!” .The fat content was near perfect but carcase weight was not heavy enough for us to sell as half pigs which is how we sell most of ours apart from when we do food fairs. The sows were by this time in pig again but due to circumstances not to the Tam- worth as we could not get hold of a boar so decided to experiment with a Duroc. Three months 3 weeks and 3 days later one wet cold day Delia popped out 12 Duroc crosses at 7am and at 6pm Primrose popped out 8 Duroc crosses. Both were in together as we do not split them anymore even if they pig a few weeks apart as, touch wood, we have had no problems with this.

The resulting piglets were like tanks short and stocky with plenty of get up and go. We sold 6 weaners and fattened 14 and took 2 to bacon. We took the finished pigs to slaughter and the butcher told us they would make perfect shop pigs; our customers liked the pigs as they were good weights and tasted good (and as they say the customer is always right). Our next problem was we couldn’t get hold of a Duroc boar so had to either use a GOS or Pietrain. We opted for the GOS as our main aim is to keep rare breed pigs and the Tamworth is always going to be our breed of choice. We have just killed our first GOS cross and are pleased with the results. We are retaining a gilt for another experiment in a 3-way cross GOS x Tamworth x Duroc. We have now purchased a Duroc boar so we are not restricted by boar availability .So the perfect pig for our requirements is the Duroc x Tamworth as it suits our system of in- door and outdoor housing and the pigs are very quiet and good natured. We will let you know the outcome of the 3-way cross. Pa ge 14 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Here’s Looking At You, Kid

The following is taken from the New York Times of 10th November 2009 e’ve all heard the story of the third Little Pig, who foiled the hy- W perventilating wolf by building his house out of bricks, rather than with straw or sticks as his brothers had done. Less commonly known is that the pig later improved his home’s safety profile by installing convex security mirrors at key points along the driveway. Well, why not? In the current issue of Animal Behaviour, researchers pre- sent evidence that domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and will use their understanding of reflected images to scope out their sur- roundings and find their food. The researchers cannot yet say whether the animals realize that the eyes in the mirror are their own, or whether pigs might rank with apes, dolphins and other species that have passed the famed “mirror self-recognition test” thought to be a marker of self-awareness and advanced intelligence. To which I say, big squeal. Why should the pigs waste precious mirror time inspecting their teeth or straightening the hairs on their chinny-chin-chins, when they could be using the mirror as a tool to find a far prettier sight, the pig heaven that comes in a bowl? The finding is just one in a series of recent discoveries from the nascent study of pig cognition. Other researchers have found that pigs are brilliant at remembering where food stores are cached and how big each stash is relative to the rest. They’ve shown that Pig A can almost instantly learn to follow Pig B when the second pig shows signs of knowing where good food is stored, and that Pig B will try to deceive the pursuing pig and throw it off the trail so that Pig B can hog its food in peace. They’ve found that pigs are among the quickest of animals to learn a new routine, and pigs can do a circus’s worth of tricks: jump hoops, bow and stand, spin and make wordlike sounds on command, roll out rugs, herd sheep, close and open cages, play video- games with joysticks, and more. For better or worse, pigs are also slow to forget. “They can learn something on the first try, but then it’s difficult for them to unlearn it,” said Suzanne Held of the University of Bristol. “They may get scared once and then have trouble getting over it.” Researchers have also found that no matter what new detail they unearth about pig acumen, the public reaction is the same. “People say, ‘Oh yes, pigs really are rather clever, aren’t they?’ ” said Richard W. Byrne, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the Univer- sity of St. Andrews. “I would recommend that somebody study sheep or goats rather than pigs, so that people would be suitably im- pressed to find out your animal is clever.” His feigned frustration notwithstanding, he added, “if you want to understand the evolu- tion of intelligence and social behaviours, it’s important to work on animals like pigs that are not at all closely related to us” but rather are cousins of whales and hippos. So far, and yet so near. Last week, an international team of biologists released the first draft sequence of the pig genome, the com- plete set of genetic instructions for making the ruddy-furred Duroc breed of Sus scrofa. Even on a cursory glance, “the pig genome compares favorably with the human genome,” said Lawrence Schook of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the team leaders. “Very large sections are maintained in complete pieces,” he said, barely changed in the 100-million-plus years since the ancestors of hogs and humans diverged. Dr. Schook is particularly eager to see if the many physiological and behavioural parallels between humans and pigs are reflected in our respective genomes. Pig hearts are like our hearts, he said, pigs metabolize drugs as we do, their teeth resemble our teeth, and their hab- its can, too. “I look at the pig as a great animal model for human lifestyle diseases,” he said. “Pigs like to lie around, they like to drink if given the chance, they’ll smoke and watch TV.” Pigs have been a barnyard staple for at least 8,000 years, when they were domesticated from the wild boar in Asia and Europe. Domestication was easy, given that they loved to root around in dump sites. “The pigs were hard to hunt, but if you put the garbage out, a lot of them would be drawn out from the woods,” Dr. Schook said. “After a while, people realized, we don’t have to hunt them. All we have to do is put a fence around our garbage.” Pigs were tireless composting machines. “They fed on our scraps,” Dr. Byrne said. “Everything we produced, they turned into good meat.” Pork is among the world’s most popular meats; in many places, pigs are a valuable form of currency. “In parts of New Guinea, they’re so important to villages that they’re suckled by people,” he said. Pa ge 15 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Of course, pigs aren’t always handled so lovingly, and these researchers denounced factory farms. “I’m German and I love sausage, but I would never eat pork that isn’t free range,” Dr. Held said. Even in domesticity, pigs have retained much of their foreboar’s smarts. Dr. Byrne attributes pig intelligence to the same evolutionary pressures that prompted cleverness in primates: social life and food. Wild pigs live in long-term social groups, keeping track of one another as individuals, the better to protect against predation. They also root around for difficult food sources, requir- ing a dexterity of the snout not unlike the handiness of a monkey. Because monkeys had been shown to use mirrors to locate food, Donald M. Broom of the Uni- versity of Cambridge and his colleagues decided to check for a similar sort of so-called assess- ment awareness in pigs. They began by exposing seven 4-to-8-week-old pigs to five-hour stints with a mirror and recording their reactions. The pigs were fascinated, pointing their snouts to- ward the mirror, hesitating, vocalizing, edging closer, walking up and nuzzling the surface, look- ing at their image from different angles, looking behind the mirror. When the mirror was placed in their pen a day later, the glass-savvy pigs greeted it with a big ho-hum. Next, the researchers put the mirror in the enclosure, along with a bowl of food that could not be directly seen but whose image was reflected in the mirror. They then compared the responses Poster advertising a famous 19th century of the mirror-experienced pigs with a group of mirror-naïve pigs. On spotting the virtual food in music hall act featuring trained pigs. the mirror, the experienced pigs turned away and within an average of 23 seconds had found the food. But the naïve pigs took the reflection for reality and sought in vain to find the bowl by rooting around behind the mirror. No doubt the poor frustrated little pigs couldn’t wait to get home, crack open a beer and turn on the TV. ______Memories of the Royal Show by Caroline Wheatley-Hubbard I am afraid my two abiding memories of ' the old Royal' are of misdemeanours - one is looking up and noticing that some irre- sponsible person had a Tamworth sow outside the ring on the far side (where the BPA tent is) only to realise that it was son Andrew! I sped to his aid! The other was when one of our stockman was injured (in a boar battle) and was taken along to the first aid tent where my mother in law waited patiently for him to come out from being seen. When another patient went it and then came out she discovered that the stockman had taken one look at the nee- Caroline and stockman Tim dle that he was to be given a tetanus injection with and disappeared fast through a flap in the tent! The boar in question returned home to the usual calm cuddles he had enjoyed before the threat of the needle!

I could also mention Tim's experiences with Prince Charles. He had worked very hard with his sow that year; she was nervy and would hardly go out at all when we started preparing her for the show - and then she won! Imagine his horror when he was asked to bring her forward to speak to Prince Charles who stood in front of her with his legs apart. Tim assured me that he had got the name of The Ginger Piggery out in his conversation with Prince Charles but he was not really concentrating on what he was saying! ______Memories of the Royal Show by Mary Card My great memory of the Royal was the year that as I was getting my Tamworth sow ready for the ring, I was suddenly called at the last minute to show one of the other breeds in a championship and at very short notice I had to pass on the showing of the Tam- worth sow to a very unprepared granddaughter, Sarah Brickell. Sarah hastily put on the nearest pair of tights to hand which as she was to find out to her cost in the showring were miles too big. Much to the amusement of the assembled crowd and (as Sarah was now well into her teens) a growing number of gentlemen admirers around the ring, once Sarah started showing the pig her tights kept falling down. Amazingly enough she not only won the class but also, (having changed her tights). the breed championship as well. From then onwards Sarah's nickname became Pippy (as in Pippy Longstocking).

I also remember the regular water fights which would always break out towards the end of shows a few years ago. One year at the Royal one of these was in full swing with amongst many others Bryan, Tony Osborne, Steve Loveless, the Collings family and Martin Snell to name but a few. Steve had just caught Bryan a corker getting him completely drenched and Bryan was creeping up behind Steve with a very large bucket of freezing water to get his own back. Unfortunately Steve was tipped off just before the water was thrown and did a sideways jump very quickly. Regrettably Mr and Mrs Immaculate and their dear little son who were visiting the show and impeccably dressed took the full force of the cold water and I seem to remember all the water fight participants running off in all directions so we never found out the final outcome of all this. Pa ge 16 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Another Pig of Distinction by Nick Hunkin

ome pigs are continuously successful in the show ring but very few S achieve outstanding success over a period of time. One such Tamworth was Toller Lucky Lass 26 (Daisy) who not only enjoyed the most glitter- ing career in the show ring but also had the immense good fortune to be owned by the Marquess of Salisbury (then Lord Cranborne). Anyone who has seen the Marquess' luxurious porcine accommodation complete with fitted wallowing baths and generous exercising areas will know what a pampered and relaxed lifestyle his pigs enjoy. For a number of years in the early noughties, Daisy was unbeaten in the Tamworth classes wherever she was entered. It got to the stage that when most of the other exhibitors got to the show and found her entered they all pretty much gave up any hope of winning the top award.

Daisy was bred by Peggy Darvill of Toller Whealme who when she originally started breeding traditional pigs had gone for every breed available including The Marquess of Salisbury and Toller Lucky Lass 26 as Tamworths. Daisy's dam was the daughter of another legendary show pig nick- featured in Country Life. named Sally bred by Mary Card and fathered by an Australian dam and her sire was a Golden Ball from Nick Hunkin's Shutevale herd. Daisy's first show outing came when she was a gilt and Peggy took her to the Bath & West the year before the foot and mouth outbreak. She won her inaugural first prize under the judging of Thomas Wheatley- Hubbard who, Peggy remembers, was very taken with her. Shortly after this Peggy decided to concentrate her efforts on Saddleback and Gloucester Old Spots pigs and so found new homes for all the other breeds in her herd including Daisy - a decision that Peggy was later to regret. After a brief spell at Bryan and Mary Card's herd, Daisy went to the Cranborne Estate under the watchful eye of Trina Baker. Having enjoyed a career in the world of top flight horses, Trina was the ideal person to groom Daisy for showing and on her first outing in 2003 to Lam- bourne Show, she took the supreme honours over all other breeds. She then went on in the same year to win no less than 5 breed champion awards and was un- beaten. These were at Devon County, Bath & West, Royal Cornwall and Royal Shows. The following year was equally successful with wins at 5 more shows and a supreme at the Royal Cornwall and a reserve supreme and champion coloured pig at the Bath & West. Anyone who was showing in those days will appreciate Daisy with one of her litters. just what an honour it was to get a Tamworth up to these standards. The follow- ing year was also a great year for Daisy with a second supreme at the Royal Cornwall crowning her career.

After all these wins Daisy had built up an international reputation and was pictured with her proud owner, the Marquess of Salisbury, in an edition of Country Life. She also had her por- trait painted on an incline outside Cranborne Manor and this was auctioned off at the inaugu- ral dinner of the Tamworth breeders club held at Hatfield House. The oil painting by Bryan and Mary Card's' son in law an accomplished and talented artist subsequently sold for £800 and was purchased by Lord Salisbury himself with 50% of the proceeds going to Tamworth club funds. The portrait hangs "in state" at Hatfield House and is one of Lord Salisbury's most prized possessions.

After 2005 as with all show pigs eventually Daisy began to lose her shine and so Trina decided The painting of Daisy the sale of which to retire her before she had the indignity of being beaten. She asked Lord Salisbury if Daisy contributed £400 to Club funds. could be given a retirement patch of honour at Cranborne Manor along with another of Lord Salisbury's Large Black sows who had had a good career in the show ring called Bertha. The Marquess readily agreed and for the next 4 years Daisy lived a life of luxury without having to produce any further litters in the shadow of the magnificent Cranborne Manor. Had she been with any other herd, it is highly likely she would have gone to that great show ring in the sky almost immediately after she was retired but such was Lord Salisbury's affection for her that he decided to reward her with a good period of peace and relaxation. She came to her end just 6 months ago when her sty mate Bertha went off her legs. Trina felt that it would be not much of a life for Daisy on her own and in any case she herself at 11 years of age was showing the early symptoms of extreme old age. She finally left the estate in summer 2009 with her dignity still intact and in reasonable health. I wonder how long it will be before her superb record in the show ring is either equalled or bettered. Pa ge 17 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Pushing Tamworths in Scotland by Lillian Waddell

ith few shows in Scotland having provision for promoting pigs, pork or anything porcine whatsoever, W we decided that 2008 would be the year that we would take the Tamworth breed out to the peo- ple. We spent a lot of time talking to various show secretaries and finally decided to attend and take pigs to 4 different shows which were spread roughly once a month between May and August. Robert spent many hours adapting our livestock trailer to be a pig exhibition unit. Apart from the installation of drinking bowls and adding a feeder unit with metal sides, he strengthened any possible moveable parts so that we didn't have any breakouts. The other addition made to the trailer was to create a see through back panel with 2" mesh, solid metal sides top and bottom which could be bolted to the base of the back door. As the family motto is "Measure twice, cut once" everything went exceptionally well and we had a fantastic pig exhibition unit. The final part of the equation was to paint it as this would attract the public across to our exhibi- tion from a distance. This was very time consuming as each square had to be painted separately but once finished it all looked fantas- tic and there were many comments at shows as to how attractive the trailer looked. Lesmahagow Show May We arrived with plenty of time to spare and managed to set up by 9.00 am. We decided to give the Scottish public the opportunity of tasting first class Tamworth pork sausages so they could see the live animal and the meat . We had prepared a good leaflet stand and once the show opened these found eager interested hands very quickly. There was an enormous amount of interest in the pigs and we spent a lot of time discussing the merits of the Tamworth breed and got a lot of people interested in what we do. We put up a lot of pictures on the side of the stand and there was a great many questions asked about just what the pigs were doing when the photo- graphs were taken! At about midday Lillian started cooking the sausages which were duly handed out free of charge to the pub- lic. Everyone who tried them thoroughly enjoyed them and there was a great deal of speculation as to the recipe which had been used. This is something which I never divulge completely but there are only 4 ingredients - pork, fat, seasoning and the secret Lilian Waddell ingredient which will always remain close to her heart. To make the event more interesting we decided to organise a competition and we charged a small amount for the public to pick a number between 1 and 100 and to leave their name and address with us. At 3.00 pm we got an independent member of the public to pick the winning number and the recipient (whom we notified afterwards) received £15 in prize money. The remaining £63 was put into the kitty to fund the whole demonstration costs. This meant we were totally self sufficient and did not have to target the Tam- worth Club central funds for anything. By this time the day was becoming very hot and the pigs were feeling this quite badly so we cooled their bedding down with cold water and were quite pleased to get away b6 4.00 pm. We had a 45 mile drive home and the pigs were delighted to get back into their paddock and went straight for their wallow with relish!! Stirling Show June As we were on a 21 day standstill our friend and fellow Tamworth breeder, David, supplied the pigs for this show. He had 2 boar pigs available which seemed to be running well together and we looked forward to another suc- cessful day. Unfortunately, June was one of the wettest months in a very wet summer and there was a week of pretty well solid rain before the show day. We wondered if we would actually get into the show let alone out of it as the mud was pretty serious. Luckily, the day before the show was very sunny with good strong winds which did a lot to dry up the ground. We were placed near the main ring which made it easy to watch the judging of the cattle and sheep which was another great interest to us. By now we were getting fairly seasoned to running our exhibition and we were set up in less than 10 min- utes. Regrettably it was a very cold and windy day but this did not diminish the amount of interest shown in the pigs especially as there had never been pigs at Stirling Show before or at any time in its history. Once again we cooked sausages which were enjoyed by all who tried them and the guess the number competition raised £100. The weather was much better for them and as pigs often do they slept most of the day. The exhibition trailer was working an absolute treat and so the pigs were kept dry all day yet the public were able to get extremely good views of them. In spite of the weather we had a fantastic day and nearly lost our voices telling people all about Tamworths!! By mid afternoon dark clouds were beginning to fill the sky and we just got packed up and out of the showground when the heavens opened and down came hailstones the size of large peas bouncing off the bonnet of the car. We were both glad we had got out just in time. Dunblane Show July Again the worst summer in recent years made the cancellation of Dunblane Show a real possibility but at the end of the day it went Pa ge 18 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

Pushing Tamworths in Scotland (cont.) ahead. We were delighted as again there was a lot of interest in the pigs. When we arrived we were given a plot to set up with but this seemed to upset one of the other exhibitors who complained and we were eventually asked to move. Our new plot was under a tree but didn't seem to detract from the amount of interest shown in the pigs. We followed the same format as before and had to pay a much higher fee of £50 to be at the show which was more than the previous events so that the money raised from the competition went to very good use this time. Again we cooked sausages and these went down equally well as at the other shows even though it was drizzly weather all day. This time the press found us and interviewed us to get some insight of what we were doing. He then arranged for his photographer to come along and take photographs of us with the pigs and eventually we had a big article in the local Dunblane paper. The public seemed keen to try and get hold of more sausages and we told them to campaign the best butcher in Dunblane to stock pedigree Tamworth pork!! We purchased a gazebo for future shows at this event with some of the money raised thus far. This was a bargain at £80 and should stand us in good stead for the future. Kinross Show August This was our final show of the year which was about 45 minutes from home and was possibly the least successful from the point of view of where we pitched up. We were given a free hand and decided to be near the horses and equine equipment which was obvi- ously not a great decision but we made the best of a bad job. This was a very rainy show which got heavier and heavier throughout the day and we were getting wetter and colder. The only warmth we got was from cooking the sausages and we learned the hard way that our new gazebo was only showerproof and not waterproof!! We will need to get some cans of waterproof spray to improve it for next year. Unfortunately we only raised £10 from this show but were able to leave early at 2.00 pm. We may well do the show again because it was very badly hit by the weather. All in all this was a very successful foray not only for the Tamworths but for pigs in general which don't get much of a look in at Scottish shows. Hopefully the enormous amount of interest we generated will change this lamentable situation and we hope one day that pigs will return to the Royal Highland Show. It was great to see the BPA having a big presence at the above event with Marcus Bates and Bryan Card in attendance. We again promoted the Tamworth breed alongside the BPA and spoke to many interested visi- tors. I know the Tamworth Club are very enthusiastic about what we have done and we would like to thank David Chad for helping at all shows and providing pigs for some of them. We hope to be at the shows again next year and who knows one day they may put in competitive classes!! The total income raised from our activities was £278 of which we spent £220 leaving £58 to start off our exhibiting next year. —2009— Stirling Show I thought for a change that I would take a sow with her six piglets rather than the pigs that I had taken to the last show. It was the best decision as it did get a mass of attention. Setting up was really easy and quick as Donna and Graeme knew what to do this time. Out pitch was beside the Royal Highland Education Trust and was perfectly sited. When attending the shows I don’t get to much time off to see other attractions as the shows and to be honest my thoughts were “what is the next show we are going to attend”? The piglets were well photographed and contented as the weather was cool and dry on the day. My sausages were cooked and handed out. I had bought a wee trolley on wheels to keep the leaflets in (better pulling than carrying them) and other items together, which were placed for all information needed. A gentleman from Canada was enquiring about the export of the Tamworth pigs and who to contact about it. This information I did not have so I advised him to go on to the BPA website to get the information. The fundraiser board is taken to all the shows with “Guess the name of the pig” competition. The entrants look for their own name or someone that they dislike and this causes a lot of banter in the best possible taste by me and the entrant. The day was ending with drizzly rain and getting colder so we filled the board and drew the winner, and headed home at 4.30. Royal Highland Show It was billed as the greatest show on earth and certainly lived up to this claim with record attendances over the 4 days. I had been asked by the BPA to assist with their stand and one of my ideas was to have a pedigree sausages competition – 24 entries, 7 breakfast and 17 specialities. Half the entries was Tamworth pork. The champion and reserve champion both tying on 85 points (judging was very strict and there formed by Jonathan Honeyman a QMS butcher). Pa ge 19 Tamworth Trumpet Volume 4, Issue 3

David Chlad picked up reserve champion and keeping the Tamworth breeders hopes alive of a possible win in December all sausages entered were cooked and handed out to the crowds as samples receiving favourable comments and enquiries. Unfortunately I only managed a bronze award for two of my specialities. I hope I have better luck next time at the Good Food Show. Lesmahagow Show The week of the show had been drizzle most days and presumed that Saturday would be the same, but we had a beautiful warm day, in fact, too warm for the pigs, which had to be cooled down with water during the day. There was a lot of interest in the pigs with one small child wanting to take one home for a pet and keep it in her bedroom, but unfortunately this could not happen as her mother told her. The sausages I had taken to cook for samples were meaty and delicious so I was told by the people who tasted them. There were a lot of enquiries about where to buy the pigs as people were wanting to put a couple of them in the freezer. All the infor- mation was handed to them (a leaflet about the breed, Tamworth membership forms, B.P.A. membership forms and recipe booklets) and were delighted that there was so much information available on the day. David Chlad was unavailable to attend the shows this year so I encouraged Graeme and Donna to help (after all I did need some minions to help carry the equipment). The fundraiser was filled by 2.30pm and the winner was picked by the show secretary and the prize money given to the winner at the show. The afternoon seemed to pass slowly as we were all getting tired (even the pigs) with the heat. We met a wonderful amount of people at Lesmahagow who understood the amount of effort that goes into organising stands like ours and we look forward to seeing each other next year at the show.Graeme, Donna and I started packing away at about 4 pm and were back home by 5.45 pm. It is a long day; a lot of driving but well worth it when we hear the comments of “it is fantastic to see pigs back at local shows” as there has been none for several years. We are looking forward to the show year of 2010. ______Newbie at Newbury Show by Liz Shankland All good things come to an end, and the Royal County of Berkshire Show at Newbury in September provided a very fitting finale to a really enjoyable year of showing. In 2009, I decided to conquer my nerves and begin showing in earnest, starting with the Royal Welsh Smallholder Festival in Builth Wells – an extremely friendly show for beginners – before crossing the border to compete at five shows, as well as my own big "local", the Royal Welsh Show. I managed a handful of firsts (Bath & West, Three Counties, the Royal, and the Royal Welsh) and some respectable second places against tough opposition, so it wasn't a bad year, all in all. It was a steep learning curve, but I came through it and made some great new friends as a result. As a show virgin, each event was different, exciting, and challeng- ing, and I enjoyed every one – so much so that, when it came to September and I headed Stoneymoor Jacqueline 13 who swept the board off down the M4 to Newbury, I was already feeling a little sad that my months of show- when Guy Kiddy judged the first Tamworth Cham- hopping were coming to an end. pion of Champions at Newbury. Photo by Liz It was the first time I had visited the show, and it lived up to the glowing reports others Shankland. had given it. The show has a true agricultural flavour to it, with plenty of space devoted to rare breeds of every species. The organisers also allow lots of prime space for country pursuits and craftsmanship, with numerous exhibitions and demonstrations of rural sports and skills. To keep the bargain-hunters happy, there are plenty of tradestands, too, with a variety of high-quality sales goods on offer – a rare thing these days, when so many agricultural societies appear to have sold out to the tacky "Del Boy" traders. Newbury was an extra-special event for the Tamworth Breeders' Club, of course, as it was chosen for the inaugural Champion of Champions competition. Despite the fact that many pigs which qualified earlier in the year could not attend because they had farrowed by then, there was an excellent turn-out of terrific stock. One of the contenders was Bill and Shirley Howes' Stoneymoor Jacqueline 13, who qualified for the Champion of Champions right at the beginning of the show season, at the Newark and Notts Show in May. She had one more outing - to the Stafford County Show - and then spent the summer rearing her piglets, but she was back with a vengeance in time for Newbury! She won the sow class and breed champion, before going on to take the interbreed championship and the best veteran pig award. Finally, the icing on the cake was being awarded the Tamworth Champion of Champions. "To be the first breeder to win this new trophy is a huge honour, especially with a sow who is five years old!," said a delighted Shirley. "She is not just beautiful. She has bred lots of promising progeny - one of her daughters, Stoneymoor Jacqueline 28, was one of only two Tamworths which qualified for Pig of the Year in 2009." The story doesn't end there, of course. Jacqueline 13 had a litter of 12 at the beginning of December 2009, so Bill and Shirley are keep- ing their fingers crossed for some strong contenders for the 2010 show season. The Tamworth Breeders’ Club Newsletter The Tamworth Breeders’ Club

Tamworth Trumpet edited by Richard Lutwyche Carolyn MacInnes, Secretary © Tamworth Breeders’ Club & Richard Lutwyche The Tamworth Pig Breeders’ Club The next edition will be published Summer 2010 Walnut Cottage Common Road NEW ADDRESS Please send contributions to: Wrangle Richard Lutwyche, Tamworth Trumpet, Freepost (GL442), Cirencester, Glos., Boston GL7 5BR Lincolnshire, PE22 9BY Tel: 01285 860229 Fax: 01285 860229 Phone: 01205 871792 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Don’t forget, you can advertise pigs for sale or wanted www.tamworthbreedersclub.co.uk on the Club website, FREE! Furthermore, you will find there the full range of Club Tamworths - merchandise and you can download an order form to The future’s orange! send to the Secretary with your payment.

A delightful painting by British painter, Cecil Aldin from 1925

Memories of the Royal Show by Viki Mills I started showing at the Royal in the early 1980s, before the pig building was erected. I remember well the Wood- house pens with the wash pens at the end of the rows and open to the ele- ments. When it got very hot (which was quite often) the fire brigade would come round and hose the canvass on the pens down to cool the pigs off. In those days the Modern breeds were predominant in numbers and I remem- ber Neville, (who was the Flack family pigman and used to bring up to 16 Large Whites to the show every year), telling me that having washed his pigs spotless for each show he attended, he would take them home and make deep mud wallows for them as he reckoned this created and maintained first class coats. One year I took 18 pigs to the Royal Memories of the Royal Show by Martin Snell from 5 breeds and including 12 Janu- What immediately comes to mind when I think of my early visits to arys - we did very well that year. You the Royal was the wonderful social sessions during the evenings which may remember from a previous article often happened in the adjacent flower tent. In times gone by the show I wrote for The Tamworth Trumpet would organise wrestling matches between the cattle, pig and sheep exhibitors followed that my 1st ever Tamworth Lucy (a later by a stockmans’ supper (sadly lacking in more recent times). I remember the Playle Lucky Lass) won the Royal at the grand family who were well-known pig exhibitors in times past, giving an annual party which was age of six. I always brought a good always pretty lively and on one occasion a young Kevin Matthews, (who used to take his team of helpers to the Royal and have motorbike to the show), falling off amongst some straw bales there and being unable to sit very happy memories. upright on bike and ride it back!