24/07/2025
This Week, our Sounds of the South West stories are accounts of rural life from two very different times.
Leslie Workman was born in Sheepscombe in 1905. His father was the local baker; together they delivered bread on foot during the deep winter snow. He remembers the once-a-year trip to Stroud at Christmas.
Around 80 years later, in 2001, farms around the UK were gripped by the foot and mouth disease. Roger Staley of Kington Mead farm near Thornbury tells the story of the devastating effect when his herd of 1600 pigs tested positive for the disease.
Watch a short extract of Leslie’s interview and images of the valleys around Sheepscombe, Slad and Stroud: https://youtu.be/VZxmTD6WAH0
Watch the short extract of Roger’s interview and images of newspaper reports of local protests against the cull: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZj9BjdqMaM
Listen to the full length audio recording of Roger’s interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-HEQ_AyhkU
