Farms and Fortunes - Michael Godwin

The writing of this story began some years ago as a record of my life for my grandchildren to read should they become interested in our family history. Beginning in 1939 until my seventieth year in 2009; my childhood in the Somerset countryside on a small mixed farm; my failed architectural ambitions, and my successful career as a Wiltshire arable and beef farmer, and a witness to the technical advancement and the galloping mechanisation in agriculture. The story includes my involvement in several farms and eventually joining Lloyds of London as a "Name." Inevitably it includes my interests in world affairs, aircraft and military flying and my opportunities to travel and meet other farmers in their own environments. I describe my wife's tragic mental illness and the usual ups and downs of an interesting and busy life. My son now owns and manages an arable farm, together with a commercial grain storage enterprise. At completion I was persuaded that the story was "an interesting and historical document" and should be published as such. So here it is.