TONY TAKLE

CATALOGUE

RECORDING

SUMMARY

BORN: Wheddon Cross, Somerset, 1935

LIVED: Wheddon Cross, Exton, Brompton Regis

RECORDING MADE: 2002

RECORDING LENGTH: 2 hours 21 minutes

Tony Takle remembers the circus going through Wheddon Cross, black grouse on Dunkery and that his father had an Exmoor pony who lived to be 41. He loves nature. When he was 10 he and a friend built a hut in the woods from bamboo and rushes. They took sandwiches and spent long days there, walking and looking, catching trout with their hands.

After school he joined the Young Farmers Club, where he met his wife, learning more in a couple of years than he ever did at school. He was 25 when he bought Kendle farm, bidding at auction with borrowed money, while the old farmers shook their heads.

They moved from Exton to Brompton Regis last year, but he goes back daily to the farm. He breeds Texel sheep, is captain of the bellringers and enjoys performing. He sings with the Exton Village Minstrels, and he sings as he drives the tractor, until his voice goes hoarse.

Tony Takle died in September 2020.

Photograph by Mark J. Rattenbury