A FARM worker has been rewarded for half a century of hard work and loyalty.

Peter Irvine has been presented with one of the Royal Agricultural Society of England's greatest honours marking 50 years with the same employer.

Ten years ago Mr Irvine received a RASE Long Service Award medal to mark 40 years of farming near Wolsingham.

This week, at the society's annual show in Warwickshire, the Duke of Gloucester presented Mr Irvine with a bar to commemorate five decades with Wolsingham Park Farms Ltd.

Mr Irvine started work as a tractor driver for landowner Edwin Fenwick in 1953, when he was 17 years-old. Mr Fenwick's son, Tom, took over the family business in 1957 and still runs it as a company, Wolsingham Park Farms Ltd.

Mr Irvine, of Low Jofless Farm, near Tunstall, said: "The job has changed because of new technology and better machines but fields still need ploughing, sowing and harvesting and ditches need digging.

"I enjoy working in the fresh air, in a beautiful area and have always got on with my colleagues. It is a great pleasure to be rewarded for the years of work and it is exciting to receive an award."

Mr Irvine, 67, said he would never leave the area as it has been a great place for him and his wife, Dorothy, to raise three daughters, Christine, Carole and Alison.

Mr Fenwick said: "There is a great benefit having someone work for you this long. We know each other and what can be done, he works hard and I know I can trust him."