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Your support makes all the difference.I had no idea, sitting here last year, just what this one would entail for us. It's been fairly out of the ordinary.
I had no idea, sitting here last year, just what this one would entail for us. It's been fairly out of the ordinary.
It was one of the proudest moments of my life, walking round the corner of Hyde Park after the protest and having people come up to me and pat me on the back. I have three children and each of them was the proudest moment of my life, but this was really special too.
On the downside, we've had death threats made against the family because of our involvement in the People's Fuel Lobby and I've just had my phone cut off because I can't afford to pay the £600 bill I ran up phoning round, organising events and meetings.
But it has been worth it. There are people who stand there and moan and have done nothing who are now turning round to us and asking 'what good have you done?' and that's a real, real downer.
I know what we did and I know we achieved something: we got a reduction in fuel duty and other concessions. That in itself was a great thing.
As for the New Year, I won't be part of the People's Fuel Lobby. I resigned a fortnight ago. The hierarchy seemed to be wanting to go the political way and become politicians, and that to me is no good.
No, I'm going to try and get my business back into profit, though to be honest the farm - which used to be the backbone of everything - is now just an expensive hobby. It's very likely that what I'll be doing in the New Year is looking for a new job. In 1973 this farm had 23 employees and now we are down to one - me, and even I'll be looking for a job in January.
I've also got a wife and three children whom I've neglected for the past eight months, so now I want to spend some time with them.
As for protesting, I'll still be a member of Farmers for Action but I'll be in the background not in the foreground. Other than that, I'll stick to driving wagons and milking cows.
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