Modern-day farming may be in crisis but for one man toiling on the land has provided a lifetime of work and memories. And he would happily do it all again.

Benny Buckingham is now without a job for the first time in 71 years after deciding to retire at the age of 85.

Benny Buckingham

His first day of work at the farm where he stayed for his entire working life was in 1930. Since then he has seen a revolution in the industry.

Like his father and grandfather, Mr Buckingham worked at Manor Farm, in Cholsey, near Wallingford. His sons, David and Tommy, have done the same.

He has been employed as an agricultural worker by three generations of the Bitmead family - farmers Ralph, Roger and Stephen.

Born in Cholsey, and a former pupil of Cholsey School, he often helped out on the farm as a boy.

His first wage packet, as a 14-year-old, was nine shillings (45p) a week, rising to 30 shillings (£1.50) on his 21st birthday.

Mr Buckingham, who has a house on the farm, says: "Everyone said it was a good healthy life, so I started straight from school.

"I can't fault it, really. I'd go after it again if I had my time again."

When he started, Manor Farm had about 1,000 acres in mixed use - sheep and arable. Seventy beef cattle came later.

About 100 acres were later sold off to make way for Cholsey Primary School, in Church Road, and the large sewage works off Wallingford Road.

Mr Buckingham worked full-time until he was 70, and then part-time for many years as the farm's odd-job man.

Latterly, he was working three hours a day on the farm's vegetable garden.

At his retirement party, Mr Buckingham was presented with an engraved pewter tankard.

Penny Bitmead said he would be greatly missed.

She said: "He's been a very loyal helper to the Bitmead family through three generations, which is quite something. He's a very fit, strong man who works with meticulous attention to detail."

Mr Buckingham's wife, Phyllis, 79, said: "We'll have to wait and see if Benny really will put his feet up now. It will be strange for him to have so much free time on his hands."

He plans to spend more time in his own garden. This year, he won 19 prizes at the Cholsey Show for his flowers and vegetables, and another 21 at Wallingford Allotments and Gardens Society's Autumn Show.