A FARMER'S philosophy of "eat, drink and be merry" saw him reach his 100th birthday yesterday.
Until his retirement in 1985, John Ferguson Bowden cared for 500 ewes and 70 suckler cows on a wind-and-rain battered farm in the South Tyne valley in Northumberland with only one stockman to help him.
Asked for his secret of his 100 years, Mr. Bowden said: “I’ve probably eaten too much, I’ve probably drunk too much and I’ve probably worked too hard. But I’ve just kept going, and I’ve been lucky”.
Mr Bowden was born on New Year’s Day 1912 at Sheriff Mount, a mansion owned by his grandfather on Old Durham Road in Gateshead.
The Bowden family were originally cartwrights at Pegswood near Morpeth before moving into Newcastle where they set up as chartered accountants. By the end of the 19th Century they were well-established with offices in Mosley Street.
But at the age of 14, Mr Bowden started working as a “laddie”, carrying out odd jobs on a farm at Wark in Northumberland and the following year began work at Hardriding near Bardon Mill. Over the next seven years he honed his skill as a horseman, working with teams of Clydesdales, the breed of big horses which dominated farms in the North before the tractors.
His pay was £50 a year, which he supplemented by earning £1 year from pumping up the organ during services at the local church. In 1935 he was granted the tenancy of Wydon Eals, Haltwhistle, at first only 180 acres but a farm which grew in time to 500 acres.
In his early days Mr Bowden bought sheep at the seasonal mart at Haltwhistle and sold his lambs at Gilsland mart, both now vanished. In the autumn shepherds and flock masters traditionally drove their sheep miles across the country to reach the auctions.
Mr Bowden was involved in the setting up in 1962 of a farmers’ co-operative in the Haltwhistle-Brampton area to buy fertiliser, feed and other farm requisites in bulk. He was chairman of West Tyne Farmers for 17 years and saw it grow from a handful of farmers to a membership of more than 30.
In 1985 Mr Bowden retired from farming and settled in Haltwhistle. His wife Christine was brought up in Sunderland but was evacuated during the Second World War to Bardon Mill where she met her future husband. She died 20 years ago. Their son Ian, 68, is a past master of the Tallow Chandlers, a city guild, having been an accountant and pension fund manager during his career. The couple’s younger son Charles, 65, lives in Hexham and was agricultural editor of The Journal from 1974 to 1984 when he joined Tyne Tees Television to produce the weekly countryside programme Farming Outlook. He was the producer of the TV favourite The Last Horsemen, as well as writing a book to accompany the series.
Mr Bowden has five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, the youngest, Albert Bowden, being born just three weeks ago and joining him at yesterday’s celebrations.
