Robert Mills

Mr Rob Mills, son of Bob Mills introduced himself to CART at the Coleshill 2012 event. He described how Ted Spackman and his father had both worked on the Leweston estate as cowhands together and spent the following decades in competition with each other showing cattle having taken on their own herds.  

He worked all his life on various farms working up from a Boy to Under (second) Cowman, to Cowman, to
Herdsman and Head Herdsman. At his peak, he was acknowledged by his peers as the best
Guernsey Cattle Showman in the business, having worked with some of the best Pedigree herds and
owners in the country. In 1959 his herd at Stowell in Somerset (close to Sherborne) was overtaken by Foot and Mouth Disease. 150 Pedigree Gurnsey Cows and 350 Large White Pigs were all put down in 3 days of slaughter. After that he said he was “finished with the bl**dy cattle then” and spent the last 7 years of his working life in the watercress beds at Alresford until he retired. 

During his younger days Bob and brothers’ George and Walt were renowned Racing Pigeon flyers in the
village of Tichborne, Alresford, Hampshire. They won many races with their birds over those few years.
They were known as The Mills Bothers and were living with their widowed mother in a tithe farm
cottage alongside the river Itchen at a place called Verndal Farm. There were seven brothers in all of
which Robert was the youngest. Two of the others were killed serving during the First World War.

Rob also recalled that his father had rather bowed legs, to the extent that supposedly a wild rabbit escaped his attempts to catch (and eat) it by jumping between his legs! He suffered from arthritis in later life and had to walk with a stick. He blamed this on a bad throw (or landing?) during unarmed combat training.

Rob unfortunately did not know exactly where the Operational Base was. His father had been taking him to see it one day when their journey was cut short by the exhaust falling off his father’s car. They had a trip to the garage instead!