John Williamson

He lived at West Farm, Selby Common, a largely arable farm where being very good with his hands he also indulged his love of wood carving, making a number of wooden shire horses with different types of carts to go with them.

These he showed at exhibitions, often winning rosettes for them and they are now being given to the Farming Museum in York. He could also turn his hand to jigsaws and making model trucks.

Mr Williamson, who was always known as Alan, was born on the Birdsall Estate, near Malton where his father worked, the eldest of five brothers and sisters.

He was educated in nearby Norton before working with his father, firstly on the estate and then at Micklethwaite Farm, near Wetherby, when the family moved there.

He later lived at Rawcliffe Bridge, near Goole, where he ran a farm and shop before moving to West Farm, in 1964.

He was to remain there, doing all the work himself until turning to local contract farmers in recent years.

It also had stables for ponies and he made many friends over the years with the pony girls and with their children who liked watching television and chatting to him while their mothers were busy with their ponies.

He enjoyed watching them all grow up.

They shared many good times, especially at hay making and harvest when everyone worked together to stack the barn, but also at Bonfire night and the Christmas meal.

As Mr Williamson’s health failed and he struggled to look after himself, he was adamant that he did not need home helps because “his lasses would look after him”.

When he spent some time in a nursing home, staff were amazed at all the young women who visited him.

As a young man he was keen on motorbikes. After saving for ages to buy his first one he went to Scarborough for it, choosing the shiniest silver one with the biggest engine but when he got home, his father made him go all the way back to change it for something less powerful.

For 27 years he shared his life with his partner, June, and her family, spending many weekends together visiting the seaside or driving over the moors with a picnic, or visiting steam fairs.

He also enjoyed horse sales at Pannel and Rufforth, as well as visits to Appleby Horse Fair and farming trips with other local farmers to tractor production sites in Germany, to the Smithfield Show and to the Edinburgh, Windsor and Birmingham tattoos.

Another of his joys was gardening and messing about in his greenhouse and shed. He loved sitting on his bench in the sun, telling his life story and puffing away on his pipe.

He would never throw anything away, always saying: “You never know when it might come in handy” and he also liked to haggle over prices, always looking for a good deal or, even better, getting something for nothing.

Although he had not been well for some time he never gave in and was back on his tractor, cutting grass and doing jobs around the farm the week before he died.

Mr Williamson is survived by his partner June and his siblings Brian, Audrey and Michael.

His sister Violet predeceased him.