Nostalgia: End of an era for local farmers

Local farmers lost an irreplaceable part of their community with the closure of the town’s fatstock market.

Auctioneer Mike Perkins, who had been associated with the market for three decades said he was ‘saddened’ by the closure.

Pictured are Jack Nicholson, Arthur Chantry, Jack Drayton and Wilf Hankins, who were regulars at the market.

An air of gloom fell on the pay office at the last market.

The report at the time said the loss of the Linwood Road market, which came in the same week as the closure of the Spalding market, would almost certainly mean the end of another of the town’s great institutions, the Christmas Fatstock Show.

“Although I understand the decision (to close), I cannot hide the fact that I am very upset to lose such a traditional part of our agricultural life,” said Mike Perkins.