Harper Life 2019 - Alumni Magazine

Martin Riddle Martin Riddle was not from a farming family but had a love for the countryside. After attending Harper Adams , 1956-58, Martin married Shirley in 1960, the year that they bought the first farm, costing the large sum of £80 an acre! At such a young age, the neighbours were very doubtful of any success. But in 1962, the farm registered a barley crop of 3 tons/acre, a true success in those days. As the family grew, three sons, so did the farming enterprise and more farms were bought. Martin said continually of land, “they aren’t making any more!” Farms were run to develop the countryside but also to support Martin’s passion: shooting! For decades every detail was recorded to ensure better sport the following year. Martin, 84, died 21st June,of a heart attack while working spraying on the farm. A packed church and colleagues from the 1956-58 Harper cohort showed the huge respect for Martin who left a wife and three sons and grandchildren. DCF Michael Hicks Michael Hicks was 72 when he died unexpectedly on 16th March. Michael was an NDA student in the 1960s. He achieved his goal of a career in farmmanagement, and was still involved in the industry part-time, as a pesticides assessor, up to the time of his death. He often talked about his days at Harper, which were very happy ones, and we both enjoyed attending the 50-year event at Harper Adams not long ago. Mrs Gill Hicks John Kennedy John died on 15 January 2019, aged 84. He chose agriculture as a career as he wanted to farm, however health problems meant he changed direction to teaching agriculture. Following completion of the NDA course he then undertook the twelve month teacher training course at Worcester Teacher Training College. On qualifying he obtained the post as a lecturer and warden at Bishop Burton Farm Institute. It was here that he met his future wife Jennifer. After six years at Bishop Burton he was appointed Vice Principal at Kingston Maurward Farm Institute, Dorchester in December 1962. This was at the time when the Principal, Reg Kenney, was appointed Principal at Harper Adams and the existing Vice Principal at Kingston Maurward, Freddy Fieldsend was promoted to Principal. John thus became the youngest vice principal of a farm institute at a time when there were more than sixty farm institutes in the UK. John took a particular interest in sheep, specifically Dorset Horns and became a judge at shows including the Royal Agricultural Show. He also had a great interest in grassland management and was very involved with the Dorset Grassland Society. The Dorset environment together with the quality of education for their children encouraged John and Jennifer to remain in the county. Their two sons are engineers and their daughter is employed by The National Trust. His recreational interests were golf, walking the family dogs and postcard collecting. He also served as a councillor on West Dorset District Council for a number of years after retiring in 1990. Peter Chance Reg Anslow (1931-2019) Former students from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s may remember classes with Reg Anslow, who died earlier this month at the age of 88. Following his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture at King’s College, Durham (nowNewcastle University), Reg studied for his MSc at Reading University. He then worked for 15 years in research at the Grassland Research Institute at Hurley in Berkshire, with a short interlude working in Mauritius. Whilst at Hurley, Reg conducted research into grassland production, the results of which were included in several grassland textbooks. Over 50 years later, his research is still being referred to in some of the latest grassland research papers from around the world. Reg’s 1965 paper on seasonal growth pattern of different species and varieties has been cited in four papers so far this year. The next 10 years involved a change from research to teaching for Reg when he was appointed as a lecturer at Brooksby College of Agriculture in Leicestershire, before his final career move to Harper. Reg worked at Harper for 13 years, from 1978 until his retirement in 1991, as Head of Crop Production Department. In retirement he was very involved in a range of voluntary activities in his local community of Marchamley and Hodnet, notably the Hodnet Garden Club. Peter Kettlewell (Lecturer from1980 and now Professor of Crop Physiology at Harper Adams) David E Butler Former Aviagen Technical Director David E Butler sadly passed away on 7 June. For 50 years David was instrumental in promoting the growth and success of the Ross brand in the global poultry industry, and was admired and respected by colleagues and customers far and wide. Inmemoriam Joe ‘Youssif ’ Shemtob (1927-2017) Joe came to the NPI in 1952 as a mature student having spent his youth in Iraq. He loved the country life here and rather surprisingly worked on a Cornish poultry farm to gain practical experience for acceptance at harper. The 1950s were the halcyon days of the NPI under Dr Harold Temperton and Joe completed his two years there with Honors NDP. His affable nature made him a very popular figure on the campus, with staff and fellow students alike, and this extended to many leading personalities of the country’s industry, for Joe was our chains mate chairman of the NPI students club and he charmed many prominent men to make long journeys to Shropshire to talk to us. Joe joined the NPI staff for a number of years, a very popular appointment, and then moved to the NAAS organisations in the midlands where he remained until retirement. He married Julie, the daughter of senior lecturer Frank Dudley and they had two sons where only Peter survives them all, living in the Cambridge area today where the Shemtobs settled in retirement. He designed and had built a home for the family there, particularly enjoying his garden and the U3A activities in Cambridge. A triple bi-pass operation didn’t slow him down and his light touch, joking and kind manor was uppermost to the end of his 90 years. Bill (William) McKinney, ND Poultry (1952-54).