A Brecon man’s book on the history and journey of the Clun Forest Sheep has been released, but the inspiration of the story was inspired by tragedy.

Mike Eckley, from Brecon, has written Triumph & Tears: Clun Forest Sheep & My Family, which is part family history, part local agricultural history, but also part biographical.

Mike was a fourth generation farmer at Court-Llacca, Felin Fach, before joining the police force in 1995, where he worked in Hay-on-Wye and Llandrindod Wells as a patrol officer.

He stayed in the role until 2018, but a night in 1998 changed his life forever.

Speaking to The Brecon and Radnor Express, Mike said: “The seed was sown inadvertently for this book in the most traumatic circumstances in the autumn of 1998. In 1998 my dad, Robert, had decided to retire from farming, and we were set to have an unreserved dispersal sale of all livestock and deadstock on 17th September 1998. My love from childhood had been the Clun Forest Sheep, and some of my earliest memories are of spending time with my grandfather, Tom, going around the sheep and leading the show tups down and back up the lane at Court-Llacca.

“Dad had spent his entire working life at Court-Llacca and was determined to retire from farming at the age of 65 years. Plans were made, and the tenancy, which had been in our family since 1902 was to be given up that September following the dispersal sale. We were all at peace with this as my Mum, Gwen, and Dad, who were proper salt-of-the-earth farming stock, had worked their socks off and deserved a long, happy retirement.

“In the early hours of 30th August 1998, our lives changed forever when my brother Phil and his friend, Rob Owens of Wernddyfog Farm, were killed by a drunk driver as they travelled home from a night out. It was a hammer blow for everyone concerned and it turned the lead-up to the sale into an incredibly difficult time full of grief and sadness instead of happiness and hope.

“I had been on duty at Hay-on-Wye Police Station that night, and by an incredibly cruel turn of fate, my colleague, the late Colin Finch and I, were the first to the scene, and I found Phil dead in the passenger seat.

“It was before the days when mental health was recognised by many people, but I now understand that following this horrific ordeal I suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Days before the loss of his brother, Mike had found an old box that was full of old Clun sale categories while clearing out the attic at Court-Llacca. “I was captivated by the history and I wondered how our flock fitted into that history. It was this PTSD that has directly led to the writing of this book. One of the many symptoms, outside of nightmares and anxiety, is becoming obsessive over certain things. Some people drink excessively; some exercise obsessively. For me, it was gathering an archive on the Clun Sheep I had loved since childhood. After the horrors of the 30th of August, there was the sale to focus on. As hard as that was for all of us, it did give us a goal that had to be achieved. With the help of amazing family, neighbours, and friends, we got through the 17th of September farm sale somehow. But after that, there was a void - a big dark hole full of sad thoughts and what-ifs.”

It became a 27-year ‘labour of love’ for Mike. “That box in the attic became the starting point my for my obsessive research into shows, sales, and everything Clun Sheep-related. I wasn’t planning a book. Just gathering information to fill my mind with thoughts that were positive and creative, not negative and destructive. As this process slowly unfolded it became clear to me early on that the breed’s history would be lost forever unless I recorded it and visited with the breeders who had been there in the Clun heyday, but they were getting less and less numerous every year. So, 27 years later, it seems a good time in the breed’s Centenary Year to put the best of the information on paper so that it is recorded in a fluent hard copy forever. This book feels like the end of a long, challenging journey that has helped me deal with PTSD.”

Mike now works at the Old Railway Line Garden Centre with his wife Katie, who is the Operations Director. It’s here that the book is on sale. Mike says: “The reception has been fantastic with sales to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Holland & USA. Several people have bought one and then ordered a further 2 copies as Christmas presents. It’s limited edition and produced in full colour with high specification paper. 200 pages, over 160 photos & 65,000 words.”

The Clun Forest Sheep is the oldest Clun flock in the UK founded at Court-Llacca in 1902 by Mike’s Great Grandfather, Thomas Eckley.