Geoff & Judy Goodman are two local farming stalwarts of the community, and have farmed at Walsgrove Farm in Great Witley since the late 1950s.
The family have implemented many changes at Walsgrove Farm including reclaiming some difficult land on Walsgrove Hill, whilst Judy has built up the nationally known Goodmans Geese business. Geoff has also served on the Parish Council for many years, and since 2001 the family have hosted the Easter Monday Redmarley Hillclimb on land at Walsgrove Hill.
Geoff & Judy have a wealth of memories and have made eight recordings covering a wide range of topics as described below, along with links to each of their recordings. The first two cover general lifetime memories, the following four are focussed on farming, and the final two tell how the Quartergreen & Bowens Field came about – both open recreational areas that Geoff & Judy were instrumental in helping to put into place for the benefit of local people.
General Lifetime Memories
Filename: Goodman_ Judy_20141127_1_3 (37 mins 26 secs)
In this first recording Judy talks generally about her life and times.
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 0:00 | Introduction | |
| 0:05 | Early days before marriage | 1940’s to 1964 |
| 3:00 | Marriage 1964 and early children | From 1964 |
| 5:00 | Move to Walsgrove Farm, young children | |
| 6:00 | Promotional work, cheese, John Barnish/ flower festival 250 years anniversary of Witley Church | Around 1985 |
| 8:00 | Strawberries | 1966/67 – 2000+ |
| 11:00 | Geese, turkeys and all publicity | 1982 onwards |
| 28:00 | Asparagus and various | 1983 |
| 33:00 | Packhouse and various | 2000’s |
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20141027_1_2 (38 mins 50 secs)
In this second recording Geoff talks generally about his life and times.
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 0:00 | Introduction and early days – moving from Bewdley | From 1940 |
| 7:00 | Geoffs early farming at Walsgrove, reclaiming land behind Walsgrove,, dairy farming, milk marketing board, fire | 1963-1965 |
| 14.30 | Farm expansion to 450 acres | |
| 16:00 | Reminiscences of Young Farmers | |
| 17:30 | Great Witley Church Restoration Committee | |
| 18:00 | First car from Moores Garage, Witley School | |
| 21:00 | Farming, employees. | |
| 23:00 | Corndryer | 1963 |
| 25:00 | Hill Climb | 2001 |
| 26:00 | Barn conversions | 2005 |
| 28:00 | Reminiscences of dairy days, positions held with Milk Marketing and NFU | |
| 33:30 | Afforestation of Woodbury Hill | |
| 35:00 | Chairmanship of Parish Council |
Farming Topics
In the following four recordings Geoff talks more specifically about his farming memories. Syndicate working and a number of new farming enterprises are described and give the listener a fascinating insight into the ever changing world of farming.
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20150512_1_2 (40 mins 42 secs)
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.16 | Sixty Years of Farming in Great Witley | 1950s to 2015 |
| 00.26 | Haye Farm Bewdley | |
| 00.35 | Rare reeds of poultry | |
| 02.18 | Moving to Walsgrove Farm, Great Witley | 1950s |
| 02.27 | Norman Lees and the Walsgrove Farm Sale including a war time Bren Gun Carrier | 1950s |
| 03.47 | Poultry at Walsgrove Farm | 1950/60s |
| 03.57 | Starting the Walsgrove Dairy Herd | 1960 |
| 04.00 | New Farm buildings at Walsgrove. Atcost concrete buildings | 1960s |
| 04.41 | Cattle, sheep and pigs at Walsgrove. Cherry trees and cherry harvest. | 1961 |
| 06.30 | Buying dairy cattle at Crewe market. | 1965 or 66 |
| 07.10 | Fire at Walsgrove Farm | 1960s |
| 08.10 | Milk churns and milking parlours | 1960s |
| 09.37 | Reclaiming some of the steep land on Walsgrove Hill | 1960s |
| 11.50 | Worcestershire No 19 Syndicate –grain drier and combines | 1963 |
| 15.30 | Pick your own strawberry venture | 1965 |
| 17.25 | Period of expansion in agriculture | 1970s |
| 17.50 | Visits to Walsgrove by children from Dudley schools | 1970s |
| 1835 | Expanding the dairy herd | 1960s |
| 18.50 | New Alfa Laval rotary milking parlour | 1978 |
| 20.15 | Purchase of Old Yates Farm Abberley. | 1980s |
| 21.00 | Working with the Milk Marketing Board and the introduction of EU Milk Quotas | 1970s |
| 22.50 | Asparagus growing | 1978 |
| 23.15 | Geese enterprise | 1986 |
| 24.44 | How to pluck a goose | |
| 26.30 | Role of wife Judy in marketing the goose enterprise – Celebrity chef Delia Smith | |
| 28.00 | The end of the dairy herd | |
| 30.20 | Longhorn cattle and tuberculosis in cattle | |
| 31.25 | Silage making syndicate | |
| 32.50 | Tractors and farm machinery | |
| 37.50 | Ceylonese herdsman ‘Tilly’ | |
| 40.40 | End |
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20150512_2_2 (2 mins 46 secs)
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.14 | Woodbury Hill | 00.14 |
| 01.00 | Planting the trees on Woodbury Hill | 01.00 |
| 01.50 | Harry Randle farming neighbour from Easthope Farm. | 01.50 |
| 02.45 | End | 02.45 |
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20150512_3_2 (6 mins 50 secs)
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.02 | Geoffs Early farming memories | 1950s |
| 01.40 | Cletrac crawler tractor | |
| 03.00 | Harvesting – binding, stooking, rick making and thrashing | |
| 05.25 | Field Marshall tractor and threshing equipment | |
| 06.28 | Rickstones |
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20150512_4_2 (9 mins 37 secs)
Miscellaneous farming memories:
The Quartergreen & Bowens Field
In the following two recordings, Geoff & Judy talk about the origins of the Quartergreen & Bowens Field which are both recreation areas developed in Great Witley for local residents.
Filename: Goodman_ Judy_20160111_1_2 (5 mins 7 secs)
Judy remembers the Quartergreens beginnings:
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.17 | Judy as Chair of the newly opened Village Hall in the early 1990s | Early 1990s |
| 00.45 | June Pain and Jayne Sowden approach the VH Committee with the idea | |
| 01.20 | A well attended open meeting at the VH to discuss the idea | |
| 01.40 | Inspection of the plot by the meeting attendees | |
| 01.50 | Offer by Mr Tom and Mrs Molly Quarterman of additional land to allow the project to proceed. | |
| 02.50 | Judy reads her original speech she prepared for the opening ceremony |
Filename: Goodman_ Geoff_20160111_1_2 (9 mins 21 secs)
Geoff recalls how Bowens Field came into being around 2008:
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.15 | Following the residential development at Fountain Court funding for open space development became available | 2008 |
| 00.45 | Land adjacent to the Woodpeckers was identified as a possible suitable site | |
| 01.50 | Difficulties in establishing who owned the land. | |
| 02.20 | Eventually confirmed the land owned by the Church of England | |
| 03.20 | Acknowledges the help given by the then Vicar Reverend Alan Walcott and the Clerk to the Parish Council | |
| 04.06 | Planning what to do with the newly purchased land. | |
| 04.50 | Making a path from the field to Worcester Road with the help of the Quarterman family | |
| 05.30 | The role of Ken Pollock in obtaining funding to tarmac the path | |
| 05.45 | Naming the field in memory of Mr Doug Bowen | |
| 06.11 | Tree and hedge planting. Landscaping the games/football area | |
| 06.53 | The wildflower plot | |
| 07.40 | Bulb planting and purchase of picnic tables and mower | |
| 08.45 | The purchase of the land by the Parish Council has safeguarded it from any future developments. |
Witley Court Timber Sale 1938
In the following recording, Judy talks about the sale of standing timber in the 1938 sale at Witley Court. Some of the timber was used to build British minesweepers used in Second World War. See also our page on the Witley Court Timber Sale 1938.
Filename: Goodman_ Judy_20160111_2_2 (2 mins 12 secs)
| Start | Topic | Period |
| 00.15 | Chance meeting with an old friend from Leicestershire | |
| 00.30 | Discovers Coltman Brothers Timber Merchants from Claybrooke Leicestershire purchased timber at 1938 Witley Court Sale | |
| 01.10 | Timber transported to Claybrooke for processing and then to Grimsby for use in construction of Royal Navy Minesweepers |
