BCCS September Newsletter 2022

as a mark of the esteem they were held by the council of
management.
Following the dispersal of the Bassingbourn herd Mervyn and
Chris continued to take an interest in Charolais and would still
attend regional meetings and attend the Perth bull sales as
well as some of the major shows. Mervyn particularly enjoyed
the social side on an evening and was really at home with a
glass of brandy or Highland Park in his hand. He loved to join
in a debate and give an alternative opinion to stimulate the
conversation.
Out with of farming and Charolais Mervyn enjoyed watching
most sports but had a particular affinity for Formula 1 racing.
So Mervyn had a full and happy life. He was a real family man
who doted on his family. He loved to socialise, so the next time
you are having a brandy or a Highland Park raise your glass to
the memory of Mervyn, one of life’s characters.
David Benson.
FRANK LAWSON
Frank was one of the
early pioneers of the
Charolais breed in
Scotland forming his
Glassel Herd in the
early seventies. He
started life working
in his family firm of
Lawsons of Dyce,
famous all over
Scotland for their
hams, pork pies,
mealy puddings and Frank Lawson pictured on the right
haggis, until the
company was bought
by Unilever and his
involvement in the company declined. Frank was a fast runner
in his school and university days until he suffered a crippling
injury to one of his ankles playing rugby at St Andrews which
seriously affected his mobility for the rest of his life. With the
help of Kenny Stewart and much encouragement from his
wife Anne, the daughter of one of Aberdeenshire’s leading
cattle dealers, he soon built up a reputation for breeding
quality cattle successful in the show and sale ring. One of his
early additions to his herd was a heifer bought from Jimmy
Jeffreys at the first sale of Charolais at Perth in 1974 for 3100
guineas, a high price in those days. He had further successes
in performance tests at Stockton on Forest with Glassel Sadat,
a son of Robert De Pass’s Tavy Julian, who achieved a four
hundred day weight of 733 kg against the breed average
at that time of 559kg. These performance tests played an
important part in promoting the Charolais breed.
I will never forget attending a World Charolais Convention with
Frank in the USA. He was a wonderful companion. The craic
was terrific even if the cattle we saw were disappointing and
completely different to those we were breeding here.
Frank and Anne were very popular among the Charolais
breeders. They both loved a good party and were generous
hosts at Glassel and later at Asloun where they moved to
where there was more land to develop their farming business.
He continued to breed and sell his bulls with great enthusiasm
for many years and served the breed with distinction as
a very successful and popular chairman of the Society. It
was sad that none of their three sons Andrew, Peter, and
David had any great interest in following Frank into farming.
Peter is successful in the oil industry in the USA, Andrew a
qualified accountant, moved to Australia and is now working
in Indonesia and David runs a successful clone of the old
Lawson’s of Dyce and still produces delicious pork products,
a business started by Frank when his involvement in farming
at Asloun began to slow down as an inevitable result of no
obvious family successor.
Frank as a boy had been a very competitive horse rider
particularly in the show jumping ring. I plead guilty to
persuading him to give polo a try. He loved it from the first
game he ever played and with a good eye for a ball and a very
competitive nature he soon became a leading player in the
Perth and Dundee Polo Club. With three sons just as keen to
play too, it was not long before he had a string of ponies and a
lorry to bring them from Aberdeenshire to Scone almost every
weekend. They made a formidable team and all became very
competent players. For Frank polo gave him a chance to enjoy
playing a competitive game again where his lameness was no
disadvantage. He loved the game and became an excellent
chairman of the Club.
Membership of the Charolais breeders club has brought us
all very many long lasting friendships and in my case no one
dearer than Frank. His great sense of humour often in adverse
circumstances due to the pain from his leg never left him and
he remained positive and optimistic right to the end of his life
even when his heart began to fail and both he and Anne had
to spend time in hospital. He was a true friend and we who
were lucky enough to enjoy his friendship will remember him
fondly with that broad smile on his face and more often than
not a glass of something slightly alcoholic in his hand.
Major David Walter.
ROGER DARCH
Roger Darch of the Chard
herd passed away peacefully
at Williton Hospital after
a long stay in hospital. He
was a quiet man but would
always love to chat to
people about his love for the
Charolais cattle at shows.
Laura Darch
Newdirection / Chard
Charolais.
- No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet - 87
September newsletter 22.indd 87 16/09/2022 15:01:34