HEREFORDSHIRE'S agricultural industry has probably hit its hardest times for 50 years recently.

Now on the slow road to recovery, many people involved with farming during the last half a century will take solace from a new double cassette tape 'Memories of a Herefordshire Farmer'.

John Thacker began his farming career near Bromyard in 1942 and recollects his memories of getting started on Poswick Farm and other incidents that date back to the Second World War.

The story begins with a touching account of crossing war-blitzed London to escape to a new life on a Herefordshire farm that would become home for the next 60 years.

The big freeze of 1947, the purchase of Poswick Farm, pig killing and driving cattle on horseback are but a few memorable events related by Mr Thacker.

The recording was originally produced for the BBC's millennium radio series, The Century Speaks, and documents countless anecdotes of daily farming life during the second half of the 20th century.

Poignant reflections are made on the changes and influences that have reshaped farming, inadvertently moulding the industry to take an entirely new course.

Anyone who was involved in farming at this time or is interested in the history of the industry will delight in these amusing memories that will strike chords of recognition among past and present day farmers alike.

'Memories of a Herefordshire Farmer' is available as a double audio-cassette edition from Crown House Press, Clifton-upon-Teme, Worcestershire, WR6 6EN price £10, plus £1 postage and packing.