A Tyne Tees TV produced edition of the networked ITV series About Britain transmitted on 17th July 1977 about Gavin Aitchison, a farm worker on the 2000 acre Beaufront Estate in the Tyne Valley, near Hexham in Northumberland. As the stockman, he is in charge of feeding and welfare of a herd of pedigree cattle. He talks in detail about his work, skills and lifestyle. Title: Tyne Tees Television Logo – Tyne Tees Colour A bearded man carries some hay and throws it on the ground. The man is...

A Tyne Tees TV produced edition of the networked ITV series About Britain transmitted on 17th July 1977 about Gavin Aitchison, a farm worker on the 2000 acre Beaufront Estate in the Tyne Valley, near Hexham in Northumberland. As the stockman, he is in charge of feeding and welfare of a herd of pedigree cattle. He talks in detail about his work, skills and lifestyle. Title: Tyne Tees Television Logo – Tyne Tees Colour A bearded man carries some hay and throws it on the ground. The man is Gavin Aitchison, a farm worker. General views follow of a field with an overhanging tree at dawn, and trees and fields as the sunshine breaks through. Gavin Aitchison loads silage onto a trailer hitched to a tractor. He uses a mechanical shovel powered by another tractor to do the work. On camera, he talks about livestock management. He drives the tractor with the silage trailer through a cowshed and distributes the silage from the trailer into a trough for the cattle to feed on. He drives the tractor out of the cowshed, and across the farmyard. He takes a load of hay on another tractor trailer into a field. A general view shows the view across the field and beyond. Gavin spreads the hay across the field as he talks about his working day on the Beaufront Estate. The pedigree herd of cattle that he looks after eat the hay he has just spread across the grass. Gavin continues his work with the cattle and, in voiceover, talks about the cattle and his daily routine. He gets back into his tractor and drives off. The film cuts to Gavin and the farm manager, Harold Layman walking into the cowshed on a Friday afternoon, a routine carried out during the winter to select cattle for slaughter. Gavin and the manager talk about the criteria for the selection of the beasts, as they walk around the cattle’s enclosure. A herd of sheep come through the gateway of a field. Ewes form a significant part of Beaufront livestock. A man ties the gate shut and the sheep make their way down a road. Gavin hammers a nail into a fence post. He speaks on camera about the work of shepherds in Scotland. Gavin is asked which, cattle or sheep, get the best grazing. Gavin replies that it’s equal, but his priorities lie with the cattle and he also prefers cattle to sheep. He continues to repair the fence. General views follow of a field and Beaufront Castle on a hill. This is the home of Aidan Cuthbert, the owner of the castle and estate. Gavin stops his tractor on the estate and three farm dogs jump off the trailer. In voiceover, Gavin talks of payment in kind or the ‘perks’ of the job, which includes a quota of milk each day and a supply of potatoes and wood. Gavin’s wife Lynn pours fresh milk Gavin has brought in a metal flask into a jug. She washes out the metal flask in the kitchen sink. Lynn waits to cross the road with her children in Hexham, Nichol and Laidlow across the road. She walks towards a branch of the Trustees Savings Bank (TSB). In voiceover, she talks about Gavin and his work. Lynn is hand in hand with her young daughter walking down the street past a number of shops, then goes into a supermarket. In a heavy rain shower, Lynn drives her Renault car [Reg No. YUM 936J] out of the car park. Back on the farm Gavin is in the process of castrating a bullock, which is in a restraining enclosure. Gavin works from behind the safety of a straw bale, in what can be a hazardous task. Gavin walks towards a cattle enclosure and through a large metal gate. He herds the cattle out through the gate and along an alleyway or passage. He isolates one of the beasts in the restraining pen. He pours liquid from a can into a small plastic cup. He pours the contents onto the back of the animal, then sets it free. Then he does the same with another of the herd. The film cuts to a scene outside a school where a number of children hold pieces of paper. Gavin’s wife Lynn is collecting one of their children Andrew, from school. They all go to their car parked nearby, the children get in the back, and Lynn drives off for home. Gavin undertakes another hazardous task with one of the cattle. He has help but it is difficult to keep the beast still in the retaining pen. His assistant in the pen is shaving some of the hair off the animal’s back. Gavin talks on camera about ‘near misses’ that he’s experienced with some of his cattle. He’s preparing the animal for chemical treatment against a common pest, the parasitic warble fly. Gavin says that the chemical used to treat the animal is very hazardous to use. General views of an access road to the farm, a tractor and farm buildings in the distance, farm equipment and buildings. The commentary states that Gavin may have to work over the weekend for no extra money. In a farm shed lit by artificial light Gavin works helping to fill blue plastic sacks from a conveyor belt or hopper. He ties the open end of the sack with string, before placing it with others that fill the floor of the shed. A close up follows of one of the windows, lit by an interior light, of the rent free property where Gavin and his family live. A meal of potatoes and sausages is cooking on the stove. Gavin’s wife pours milk on a pudding she’s preparing. Gavin sits on a chair at home and speaks about the job security he has living on the farm. Lynn brings in the meal in the food for the family meal. In voiceover, Gavin continues about job security for farm workers in general. At a local pub Gavin is present at a meeting of the National Agricultural and Allied Workers Union for which he is local branch secretary. He collects union dues from members present. In voiceover, Gavin talks about an experience at work which made him join the union. Members contribute to issues being tabled at the meeting. Gavin provides the meeting with current information with respect to the issues discussed, mainly to do with pay. A tree is silhouetted against the sky at dusk. The windows are lit up at Gavin’s home. At home, Gavin is asked about his future and the future of his family. Gavin says he doesn’t want his son to be a farm worker, unless working conditions improve. Outside Gavin and his dogs are at work with the estate's cattle, feeding them hay. He walks past smoking his pipe, looking over the herd. The film ends as he then gets back on his tractor and drives off, with the remains of some hay still on the trailer.