In 1955, when Margaret and I were married, there was a lot of family friction in our farm house between my father and my mother. So after we married, Margaret and I decided to move to Saighton.
I worked as a head tractor driver at Saighton Lane farm. Margaret worked part-time at Bruera egg packing station.
My weekly wage for up to 72 hours a week, and after deductions for rent, milk, eggs, tax and insurance, was just £10. Margaret's wage was £5 per week. So our combined wages came to an astronomical £15 a week!
Nevertheless, in less than two years, we managed to furnish our house with just the essential bits of furniture and saved up £120.
With an Aunt of Margaret's standing as guarantor for £500 we started a farm of our own.
Ours was a Flintshire county council 11-acre farm. We started out with just two Guernsey cows!
Then through our very hard work we progressed through a series of larger county council farms until we ended up in a 120-acre county council farm, milking 72 Guernsey cows plus their followers!
Our determination to have our own farm really stemmed from my loving pro-Welsh, anti-English father. His last words to me were 'Go and marry this English girl then! You are just an ordinary farm worker always will be!'.
Margaret and I were both determined to show him different, and we did!
