GEORGE INNES, TURF-CUTTER IN 1974, 76 YEARS OLD

“I’m going to be riding this year. You’ve heard of Dad’s Army. This will probably be more like Dad’s Cavalry. Nowadays, we hire in horses or you’ve got your own horse for recreational purposes. But when I was young what were used were working horses for a lot of these people: store horses, cart horses for taking their vans round selling their wares.

“I took part in my first Riding Of The Marches in 1956. I was 16 years old then and I wasn’t riding that year. I was carrying a banner. All the trades were represented: the bakers, butchers, weavers, everything like that.

“I was the turf-cutter in 1974. There’s a story about that involving Neil, the current town champion. When I came to the first turf-cutting point, I threw the turf over my shoulder, as you do, and it landed smack into his pram. It was a lucky sod. He became an honest lad – now he’s the champion.”