Alan Cheese

Alan Cheese, who sadly died on 24^th July, was one of the small and now diminishing band of enthusiasts who played a part in reviving the fortunes of the Longhorn breed and Breed Society which had reached a very low ebb by 1972.  Alan had a lifelong appetite for history and, in particular, the history of British livestock breeding.  In the late 1970's Alan was curator of the Staffordshire County Council farm museum at Shugborough where he established herds and flocks of local breeds – Longhorns, Shropshire sheep, Tamworth pigs and Derbyshire Redcap poultry.  Alan served on the Longhorn Cattle Society Council and was instrumental in setting up the Longhorn sales at Lichfield Market each Spring which balanced the RBST Autumn sales as well as assiduously tracing pure bred Longhorns outside the Society, including one large herd in Lincolnshire, and bringing them back to the fold.  When he left Shugborough, Alan started his own herd under the Mavesyn prefix.

Alan was curator of the Beamish Open Air Museum in County Durham for a while and later returned to university for a post-graduate degree, concentrating on Thoroughbred horse breeding and blood lines.  He also applied his passion for livestock over the years in researching various breeds including Blue Albion cattle and Galway sheep.  The latter he found to be descended from the original Dishley Leicester sheep that had been sent to Ireland and he was instrumental in bringing them back to England and always claimed that they were far closer to Bakewell's type of sheep than either the Leicester Longwool or Border Leicester.  Latterly Alan lived in Lincolnshire and dealt in antiquarian books.

The celebration of Alan's life is on Wednesday August 21st at 12 noon at St James' Church in the village of Greete in South Shropshire, between Ludlow and Tenbury Wells -the latter being just in Worcestershire.  Greete is the village where Alan's father had a small dairy farm and he and his siblings grew up enjoying a pretty idyllic childhood.

After the service Alan will be buried in his great-grandparents' grave in the churchyard and the wake will be at The Ludlow Brewery.

The family would love to see anyone who remembers Alan and is able to make the journey to Shropshire.

(Many thanks to Alan's sister Ros Anderson and to John Brigg for providing these words)

Alan Cheese is pictured standing on the right alongside Roger Carter.  Seated is M Bauley, Mrs Betty Weiner, Charles Cottrell-Dormer and Clive Roads.  In pride of place is the Burke Trophy (Beef), won by Mrs Weiner's pair of Longhorns at the Royal Show in 1981