History of Agricultural Education in Wiltshire - Lackham Countryside ...

eflected in their ultimate careers. From growing shrubs for the suburban gardens of
Manchester, to arable farming on the East coast to dairying on the West, producing
quality tomatoes and lettuce for a selective consumer market to developing methodsof
usefully employing the reluctant 'farmers' of H.M. prisons in a complex industry.
In the early days of L.O.S.A. reunions it was the practice to engage a speaker to
comment on current trends in Agriculture, but this function was never well supported.
Most members who attended reunions, particularly those engaged in commercial
farming, prefer to assess new techniques which Lackham, in fulfulling one of its
functions, practises by moving around and getting the opinion of the staff engaged in
the various projects. The reunions, which began as a booze-up in a local pub, changed to
a formal occasion with a speaker, a sit down meal, and the appropriate toasts, then to an
informal get-together, a buffet meal and the current mood in dance music,
In its time, the Association has honoured two members with a life associate. Mr J 0
Thomas, Lackham Principal for twenty-two years, could always be relied on to work
unobtrusively, with the energy which those of us who studied under him remember so
well and Bert Stepney, who was the L.O.S.A. secretary for about the same period. Bert,
a mild and unpretentious man, would defend the Association's interests on all occasions
and against all comers. The relationship of the L.O.S.A, with the College has been
mutually beneficial. Much of the spade work for the Association has been done by staff
members, while the L.O.S.A. has supported student functions and made a sizeable
donation to the rural crafts museum. This museum, expanded rapidly during the 1950's
and 60's, to a fine collection of craft tools and domestic bric-a-brac. It was a combined
effort of students, staff and the L.O.S.A. The strength of the Association is its
sensitivity to its members' likes and its readiness to change , in spite of a slow and
ponderous attitude to innovation. It took three A.G.M.'s to agree on the Association's
tie and badge. It has a durable constitution, which took four years to complete. It
came into being as a social club, and as a social club it survives, in an age of staggering
social and economic changes.
It is right and proper that some detail of these changes which make history should be
recorded at least in part by the participants. This is my brief contribution. [i]