Stroke-hit Oliver Walston continues to improve

Farmer and journalist Oliver Walston is continuing to make progress after suffering a severe stroke.

“He is doing much better in terms of his movement and speech,” his daughter Florence told Farmers Weekly. “It is a long road ahead, I suspect, but he is doing infinitely better than anyone thought he could be.”

Mr Walston, 69, was taken to hospital last Friday (5 November) after being left unable to speak and unable to move his right hand. He has been overwhelmed by messages of support from fellow farmers.

The colourful Cambridgeshire grower is best known for founding and organising the “Send a Tonne to Africa” famine appeal in 1984. The campaign, which encouraged farmers to donate a tonne of wheat or £100, raised £2.2m.

He has also worked as a television presenter and reporter, courting controversy by talking openly about the size of his annual subsidy cheque and the amount of money farmers receive from Brussels.

“As a custodian of the landscape and the environment, I am worth every penny of my hefty annual farming subsidy,” he once told The Guardian. “For those who were wondering, my subsidy cheque last year amounted to £170,523.90p. Merci beaucoup.”