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Name
BirthFemale; 15 May 1912; Solihull Warwickshire UK
Death26 July 2002, age 90; Adlington Manor Nursing Home, Adlington, Macclesfield Cheshire UK
Burial2 Aug 2002; St Michael & All Angels Church, Claverdon, Warwickshire UK
EducationA boarding school for girls at Ditchling, Sussex
OccupationActive farmer's wife
ReligionAnglican
ResidenceUK
FatherNot recorded
MotherNot recorded
Web Page Her record in the Adkins family website

 Katharine Mary 'Katy' ADKINS (b.1912)

Spouse:

1        Married, 1937
Name
BirthMale; 3 Feb 1910; Solihull, Warwickshire UK
BaptismClaverdon, Warwickshire UK
Baptism MemoIn adult life
Death21 Dec 1980, age 70; Barnmoor Farm, Claverdon, Warwickshire UK
Burial24 Dec 1980; St Michael & All Angels Church, Claverdon, Warwickshire UK
EducationOundle School, Northamptonshire, UK; left early due to father's financial difficulties
OccupationFarmer, see notes
ReligionAnglican
ResidenceUK
Father
Mother
Web Page Barnmoor Farm, history

 Samuel Rodney 'Roddy' BODDINGTON (b.1910) Barnmoor Farm, Claverdon 1947

Marriage 21 Jan 1937, Hatton Church, Warwickshire [269]
Children:Living children not displayed
Charles Jonathon 'Jonty' BODDINGTON (1944 - 2016)

Notes for Katharine Mary 'Katy' ADKINS

At around the age of 21 she was sent away from home to live with the Townsends, parents of her step-mother, in Cheadle, Staffs. For how long we are not sure. It is said that she was disruptive at home due to a breakdown in her relationship with her step mother after the marriage to her father.

She was a member of Claverdon tennis club and competed in the annual knockout competition for almost 50 years, winning it on countless occasions, often with playing partner Hubert Adams. Her final appearance was in her late 70s! The club made her Life President. In her last years she suffered from dementia but the one thing she remembered clearly was that she was 'the President'. You may imagine that this caused some difficulties in the care home when she demanded the respect befitting the office! Her poor brother, living in the same home, was required to follow her into dinner one step behind her! [269]

Notes for Samuel Rodney 'Roddy' BODDINGTON

Prior to c.1937 worked for Avery Scales. From c.1937 farmer: 1) c.1937-Nov 1945 Mistletoe Farm, Five Ways, Hatton, Warwickshire, UK; 2) Nov 1945-1980 Barnmoor Farm, Claverdon, Warwickshire UK.

Claverdon Parish Councillor; Stratford-upon-Avon District councillor; charitable support for the WRVS at Hatton mental hospital. [269]

Always known as Roddy, he was a very successful farmer, beginning with pigs and chickens (eggs) on a smallholding at Mistletoe Farm, Five Ways, Hatton, Warwickshire UK and then dairying and chickens (eggs) at Barnmoor Farm (pictured above), a 40 acre farm at Kington Lane, Claverdon, Warwickshire UK from 1945. His dairying success was followed by the development of a large broiler (chicken fattening) unit of 36,000 birds which was also very successful.

The farm was for ten years an ICI demonstrator farm - ICI (previously Imperial Chemical Industries) provided advice on, particularly, the use of fertilisers in exchange for copious record keeping, regular open evenings to show other farmers what could be done, and £500pa, a substantial sum in the 1950s. This scheme proved to be extremely worthwhile and the farm's output rose significantly - twice the number of dairy cows, each producing more than twice the usual amount of milk. He made regular appearances on a late night farming programme on BBC TV. ICI also made, in 1955/56, a film about the farm called Milk and Money from Forty Acres. His reputation for growing fantastic quantities of grass was widely known!

His success was rewarded by his appointment as part time farm manager at Claverdon Hall Farm, owned by Sir Ivan Stedeford, on a salary of £1,000pa. Here he trained John 'Jack' Masters who later went on to farm for himself.

A history of life at Barnmoor Farm. [269]

A letter from Roddy to his mother indicates that they lived at Wichmont, St Bernard's Road, Oulton, Warwickshire in 1931. My father said that they lived in five different houses in St Bernard's Road at various times during their childhood.

The letter, dated 25 September 1931, was sent from 70 Ampthill Road, Aigburth Vale, Liverpool, at a time when Roddy was working for Avery Scales. The letter indicates that he was selling scales and earning commission for doing so. He had sold 'two dial m/cs this month about £310 altogether ... I ought to draw about £12 commission.' [269]

I refer to the picture of Barnmoor Farm above - the garden hedge in the foreground is remembered by the webmaster - I was thrown clear over it by a cow who didn't like being driven down the adjacent track. She turned round, put her head down and just threw me into the air. It was pure luck that I didn't land in the hedge or on hard ground on either side. I landed on a pile of lime that had only recently been tipped there, really quite soft! My mother never really believed this story but I can assure you that it is true. [269]

Family notes for Katharine Mary 'Katy' ADKINS and Samuel Rodney 'Roddy' BODDINGTON

Roddy was told by Henry Adkins that he could not marry Katharine unless he had £200 to his name! He applied some creative accounting and they were married.

Katharine prepared a huge list of relatives and friends to be invited to the wedding but her father said it would be too expensive and that she should reduce the list to key people. Katharine refused saying if she couldn't invite them all she wouldn't invite any. So her father said, well we won't invite any - and they didn't. Only Roddy, Katharine and the witnesses attended the wedding at Hatton Church. Marriage witnesses were Katharine's sister, Nan Adkins, and close friend Eileen Fisher.

This lack of sociability didn't stop them getting a few wedding presents. Roddy's brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Marion, gave them a set of glasses, table glasses, wine glasses, and liquor glasses, probably 18 glasses in total. I later discovered that these cost, in 1937, 10/6 - that's ten shillings and six pence, 52½p in decimal money. Though some have been broken in the decades since, the remainder are in my dining room sideboard and occasionally brought out for their proper use (2022)! [269]

Sources

269.  Personal information, Tim Boddington (Webmaster)

Person record last updated: 1 Feb 2023

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