Stan's Story
On receiving the email below from an old colleague from the farm, we were delighted to discover that the taste of our Cheddar was so memorable. In fact, we were so impressed that we decided to turn Stan's Story into a TV commercial. Click here to view the new TV ad.
It was filmed down on the farm using some of the present day Clothier family to play the parts of their forebears. Even the cows grazing in the field are the offspring of the same herds we had all those years ago.
We hope you enjoy watching the commercial as much as we enjoyed making it and, if it revives any old memories for you, we would be happy to hear about them. Click here to tell us your memories.
STAN'S STORY
Extracts from an email written by Stan Graves to Wyke Farms 15th July 2009.
Hi,
My wife Berna brought home some cheese from Morrison's a few weeks ago, and I recognized the taste immediately. It took me back to 1941, Mr and Mrs Clothier, Jim and Mary, The Vinnells, Reg, Joan and "Dicky".
We'd be out in the fields in all weathers with an udder cloth, milking pail and stool. All the cows had names, there was Plumb, Whitesox and many others that slip my 84 year old memory. I hear they still have names for all the cows at Wyke Farms today.
My recollection of the Clothier family is Mr and Mrs Tom Clothier, Mary and Jim Clothier. I was acquainted with Tom's Dad (old Mr Clothier) who died whilst I was employed there.
I joined a government scheme in 1940 called "British Boys for British Farms" at the age of 15, which was supposed to replace the number of farm workers who were joining the armed forces at that time. I was 'trained' in a place near Bristol for three weeks on how to become a Farmers Boy! The trainees were distributed around the Somerset area and that's how Tom Clothier, unfortunately, got me!
Being born in the trawler-men and fish processing area of Hull, I had never been near a cow, pig, sheep or chicken before, but having been bombed in Hull and Bristol, I thought the village of Wyke Champflower was a nice, quiet place. There was one complication initially, the language incompatibility. A broad Somerset accent and the guttural Hull and East Yorkshire dialect didn't mix at first but we managed.
And you might remember me. I'm the one who shot Dicky's clock off the wall!
Regards, Stan.
