Field Event

Ever since the M23 motorway was built between Dorgate and Bloxham, Ralph Dixon has had trouble with picnickers. The motorway made it possible for Londoners to reach the South Coast in little more than an hour. Ralph Dixon's fields line the motorway at a point from which fine views may be some of the most beautiful countryside in the South of England. At summer weekends, one motorist after another turns off the motorway at White Horse Hill, follows the narrow road through the village of Foxwood, and parks on the edge of one of Farmer Dixon's fields for their morning coffee or their midday meal. They leave gates open; they sit in the corn; they leave pieces of paper, empty tins and glass bottles lying about, and they let their dogs run wild. Earlier this summer, Ralph Dixon saw a whole bus-load of school children playing in one of his fields near the motorway. On that occasion he decided to let his prize bull, Gideon, into the next field to enjoy the company of the cows for a while. When Gideon began showing a noisy interest in the girlfriends from whom he was usually separated, the two lady school teachers thought it was time to take their pupils back to the bus. But three weeks ago, when the same field was occupied by a number of young men who had left their cars in the way of his tractor, Farmer Dixon took stronger action. He did not stop at letting Gideon into the next field; he let Gideon chase the men out of the field, down a public path, and back to their cars. One of the young men complained to the police, and Ralph Dixon found himself in court for allowing a dangerous animal on to public land and putting people's lives at risk. The Judge told Mr. Dixon: "You have gone too far this time. There must be some control over the use made of farmland by the general public—I quite agree. But to put lives in danger is not the answer." Ralph Dixon had to pay the cost of the case; however, he said as he left the court-room,"It was worth every penny to see those picnickers running to their cars. I didn't stop laughing for a week!"