Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

That Elusive Ram by Joy Cooke Returning home from last year's Publications' Night, I sat down by the fire and started leafing through my new copy of Gower 54, to see what took my fancy for bedtime reading. Near the end of the book (page 71), I paused, and looked closely at a photograph of a proud farmer with what was very obviously a prize-winning Ryeland ram. I was intrigued the photograph was dated 1931 before I was born. But there was no mistaking that attractive Ryeland outline. For a moment I thought the exhibitor might have been my husband's uncle, Ernest Stevens, of The Bays Farm, Overton. Prior to our marriage, my husband had farmed there with his uncle, and spent many hours preparing the pick of his Ryelands for shows. Ernest Stevens had bred, shown and judged Ryelands for some years, and had the silver cups to prove it. To this day, some of his 'descendants' (bred by a distant cousin of mine from one of Ernest's best rams), graze happily in full view of my daughter's kitchen window. Then common sense asserted itself this farmer was older than Ernest, who was in his heydays in the 1950s, but he was certainly a local man. Though the farmer was not identified, the photo had been taken by the well-known Mr Clare, and someone had written proudly on it "1st Llandeilo, 1st & Champion Gower 1931". I passed the journal to my husband, asking, "Do you know who this is?" Typically, the reply was "I know the farmer, but I can't remember the name of the ram!" Now that wasn't surprising! The 1931 Gower Show would have been held on Thursday, 3rd September. Dennis was probably at the Show in Penrice Park, maybe even watched the judging, but being just two months short of two years old, he could not have been expected to remember the name of the Champion Ram! He identified the farmer as Hubert Watters, a cousin of Ernest Stevens, who at that time would have been farming at Monksland Farm. (Latterly his son Victor will be remembered at Llanddewi, where his grandsons founded the Gower Farm Museum.) In high hopes, I contacted Victor Watters' widow, who advised me to ring her son Clive. Apparently he was the family archivist, and had all the paper work. Clive confirmed this, and proceeded to go through his boxes, but so far that show result has eluded him! So if any reader has a 1931 Gower Show programme hidden away, I would be most grateful if they would consult the entries for the sheep, check on the entries under Hubert Watters' name, and NAME THAT RAM!