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 DAVID RIDD

Born: Challacombe, Devon, 1937
Lived: Challacombe
Recording made: 2001
Length of recording: 2 hrs 2 mins

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David Ridd is married to Maud Harding's daughter, Mary, as well as being cousin to Ada Tucker. There have been Ridds at Challacombe since the 17^th century, including his grandfather, who was the strongest man in North Devon. He shows and judges Exmoor Horn sheep, except for last year, when everything shut down because of foot and mouth. There were no shows or markets and when they held the Exmoor Horn Sheepbreeders Society's annual dinner nobody danced, they were too busy talking.

He went to Challacombe school and then, when it closed down, to Barnstaple. The transition at the age of 11 from 26 pupils to 500 was a bit of an eye-opener, he says. He is church warden and parish chairman, active in the National Farmers Union and Clerk of the Scales at Bratton Fleming racecourse, serving seven different hunts around the area. He says there are only about 15 families left in Challacombe now, which he knew when he was a boy.