Dickie the Cow Whisperer

At Killerton we were extremely fortunate in having so many sporting resources including a squash court, tennis courts, table tennis, snooker, a cricket pitch, and of course, a football and rugby pitch.

Who could fail to remember those two pitches in the field just in front of the car park.

Whilst there were clearly several advantages to having our own pitches, there was one slight disadvantage in that we were obliged to share the football and rugby pitches with farmer Acland's cows!

Mostly, the cows were moved to an alternate field when Killerton was hosting a match, though this didn't alter the fact that the cows left their marks on the field to let all teams know just who the fields belonged to.

The rugby field was first used in 1966 and John Discombe recalls strolling out onto the pitch for their first home match of the season. Unfortunately, no one had arranged to ensure the cows were corralled elsewhere and they were quite happily grazing across the marked pitch.

After much toing and froing, Sir Richard came to the rescue. Like the 7th calvary appearing of the hill to rescue an encircled wagon train, Dickie arrived in his car. He positioned the car at the far end of the field. He opened the sunroof of the car, stood up and produced his trombone. The haunting melody from the 'bone was enough to entice the cows in his direction.

The Rugby match took place. If the cows wandered, Dickie would relocate the car and repeat the process. Killerton were clear winners, in part surely, to the bewilderment of the opposition to the sheer eccentricity of the melodic on field attraction..

Sir Richard with trombone Not in the field this time, but in the folk club in the cellar. ... look at the bales of straw - in a room mainly illuminated with candles and with people smoking, and an escape route via one wooden staircase.