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SILVER SALVER: Sulwyn Thomas and Nick Somerfield (right) receive their awards in 2005 from FUW president Gareth Vaughan.[/caption]
Former chairman and president of the FUW’s Carmarthenshire county branch Nick Somerfield, who was made a life member in 2011, has sadly passed away.
Seventy-eight-year-old Nicholas John Somerfield, or Nick as he was known to everyone, was brought up in Send, near Woking in Surrey.
A naval engineer during National Service, he gained promotion during operations in the Suez campaign and was offered a commission but, determined to follow his passion for farming, declined to take up the Surrey Scholarship he had been awarded and studied agriculture at Writtle in Essex.
Whilst a student he worked on the Guinness Estates for Lord Iveagh and on graduation he acquired a managerial post in Hampshire, where the 1,000-acre unit supported arable, livestock and hop-growing enterprises.
Following marriage to Kyra, the decision was made to realise the ambition of his own farm. The move was made in 1963 to the contrasting location of Crug-las in the Brecon Beacons where hill livestock became the required option on the 220-acre hill unit.
Nick and his wife kept hardy Welsh mountain sheep and an equally tough suckler herd of Gelbvieh and Welsh Black cows, as well as a small pedigree herd of British Toggenburg dairy goats.
The herd of dairy goats is one of the longest established in Wales from which stock has been exported worldwide during the past 30 years, many being sent to establish agricultural aid herds in Africa. Kyra has twice travelled throughout Ethiopia to evaluate these projects.
Nick always joined in co-ordinating the collection of Welsh supplied stock and in promoting the work of FARM-Africa in support of the rural poor of that continent.
An FUW member for half a century, he was notably the first English person ever to have been given life membership of the union.
Chairman and member of the FUW parliamentary and land use committee for 22 years, Nick actively campaigned for the needs of smaller Welsh family farms, believing that socially, economically and environmentally they are the backbone of rural survival and essential for the Principality.
A National Park Forum, Wales Biodiversity Action Group and CCW liaison member he had also served for six years as an EPAC (Environmental Protection Action Committee) appointee.
He felt greatly honoured when, in 2005, he was awarded the FUW Silver Salver in recognition of his service to the union and to the agricultural industry in Wales.
Speaking about Mr Somerfield, FUW vice president Brian Walters said: "Nick was a person who could enter into debate with any politician or civil servant and do it in a pleasant way with strong argument and on a variety of topics.
“He was very good at handling consultation documents and dissecting them with the help of his lovely wife, Kyra.
“He has always been a loyal member of the FUW at county and national level and I am sure he will be missed by the members, family and friends," added Mr Walters.