Shrewsbury: Farmer continues 100-year-old rainfall tradition

James Turney's father began the measurements in 1919

A retired farmer has continued his passion of measuring daily rainfalls after moving into a retirement complex.

James Turney, 85, wanted to carry on the tradition his father started in 1919 as a way of making decisions about farming activities.

"If you come to that and you measure a lot of rain you say 'forget any field work today," Mr Turney said.

Staff at the Withywood complex in Shrewsbury set up a rainwater measuring station for him in the communal garden.

Sharon Lawrie, service manager at the ShireLiving scheme, said it had been his only request before moving into the accommodation last month.

"We could see it was a massive thing for him and it would have been a bit of a deal-breaker, so I said 'it's not a problem - just tell me what you need'," she said.

"We get all sorts of requests from residents and we always try and accommodate things where we can. It is their home after all."

Mr Turney told BBC Radio Shropshire his father joined his brothers on the Northampton farm after a career in engineering.

He remembered his father's meticulous recordings and was inspired but did not carry out his own recordings until later.

"There was a chart hung up in the back kitchen and he'd write it very precisely in his engineering way," he said.

"He did it and that was that," he said.

Mr Turney carried on the tradition and has been collecting and recording rainfall for more than 50 years, including after relocating to farms in Staffordshire in 1970 and Baschurch, Shropshire, in 1999.

He catches water in a container which he tips into a cylinder and uses it to record daily, monthly and yearly rainfall on a calendar.

"It is part of my routine," he said. "It gets me out of bed - I try and get up at seven o'clock every morning to make sure the measurements are taken at around the same time."

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