T66 – Summary – Ramsbottom Heritage Society

The transcript is an interview with Raymond Wilcox as transcribed by Microsoft Word and summarised by ChatGPT and subject to errors.

Born June 1939 in Bury to Harold and Ethel Wilcock (née Barlow).
Father: Manager at co-operative societies before becoming a farmer.
Mother: From Walmsley, her family ran a pub and coal business.
Had an older sister (involved in farming) and a brother Harold (preferred tractors over horses).

Family moved into farming around WWII after his sister persuaded his father.
They rented Shipper Bottom Farm (from 1939/40), which was initially in poor condition.
Supplemented by working land at Nangreaves, transporting hay by horse and cart.
War years: Supported by the WARAG committee, experimented with root crops and soil improvement.
Early herd: just a couple of cattle → built up to about 50 cattle on 163 acres.
Milk retailed locally; bottles sterilised first by steam, later with hypochlorite.
Also raised pigs, feeding them with boiled waste collected from shops.
Farming methods progressed from horses to tractors, haymaking by hand to mechanised silage and baling.
Attempted but failed to buy the farm in the 1960s; tenancy ended around 1963.

Childhood jobs included mucking out before school.
Family meals taken together around a large kitchen range.
Early years: horse-drawn farming, later tractors.
Produced milk, hay, silage; employed seasonal Irish labourers for haymaking.
Hygiene and quality of milk were central—Raymond later specialised in hygiene professionally.

Attended Peel Brow School then Radcliffe Technical College.
Strongly involved in football (school won many trophies) and later badminton (played for 40 years).
Sunday school and youth life centred around Park Chapel.

After leaving the farm, worked in agricultural sales:
- Started with day-old chicks for a Bolton hatchery.
- Joined Unilever (animal feeds), later made redundant.
- Worked in animal health sales with a vet in Blackpool, supplying vaccines and antibiotics.
- Spent ~20 years in hygiene sector (e.g. bottle sterilisation, dairy sanitation).

Remembered harsh early days of farming, reliance on manual labour.
Saw transition from milk churns to bottles, from hand-milking to machines.
Experienced setbacks like swine fever from imported pigs.
Recalled school teachers (notably Rhodes Boyson before his political career).
Shared stories about haymaking, football, and even accidentally electrocuting chickens while attempting debeaking.

Resilience & adaptation: family adapted farming through war, poor land, and technology changes.
Community ties: milk rounds, waste collection, chapel, school sports.
Transition from farming to agricultural business: when tenancy ended, Raymond shifted into sales and hygiene, using his farm background.

T66 – Summary