Old Boardman

Old Boardman is an older countryman whose practical knowledge and companionship shape Tristan’s experience of keeping pigs at Skeldale House. A former rearer of pigs in the very sty Tristan uses, he serves as an adviser and occasional helper rather than simply a background presence: his expertise is demonstrated in work, while his conversations and wartime recollections give Tristan a place to recover from embarrassment and disappointment.

Identity and Practical Knowledge

Old Boardman regards himself as knowledgeable about animal husbandry and disease, with pigs his particular speciality. His authority is not established by formal credentials but by a history of raising impressive animals in the same sty. In long conversations beneath the Bairnsfather cartoons, he describes the large, handsome pigs he once kept there, making the yard and its animals part of a continuing connection with his own past.

The clearest practical proof of his ability comes not from a story about livestock but from the brick boiler used to cook pig potatoes. Tristan can light it, yet it goes out whenever he turns his back; in Old Boardman’s hands, it is docile. Tristan listens to the steady bubbling while Old Boardman talks, and the smell of the cooking feed settles over their shared work. This small domestic task makes his competence tangible: his knowledge is embodied in a familiar routine, not merely asserted in conversation.

Helping Tristan Raise the Pigs

Tristan had taken an interest in the pigs after his poultry venture had gone badly. He spent time in the yard feeding or mucking them out, but often simply watched them. Their changing behaviour fascinated him: after rushing to the trough, the smallest animals would glance at one another’s portions, scramble for position, and tumble into the swill. Old Boardman’s advice and experience complemented Tristan’s attention to their characters, even as the young pigs grew rapidly into substantial porkers and their feeding became a struggle.

Old Boardman was a willing collaborator, chiefly in an advisory capacity. His assistance also extended beyond the routine of the sty when the pigs escaped. Tristan had left the yard door open; as he and Old Boardman followed the animals into the lane and toward the front street, the group briefly seemed manageable. Then one pig caught sight of itself in Robson’s shop window. Its startled reaction sent it bolting into the market place, with the others following. The incident gives Old Boardman a place in the practical, comic consequences of Tristan’s project: he is not only the expert recalled in the workshop but one of the people caught up in its disorder.

Companionship and Shared Space

The relationship between Old Boardman and Tristan is marked by sustained company rather than a single exchange of advice. The old man drops what he is doing when Tristan comes to scoop swill from the boiler, and the narrator observes that the pigs’ arrival brings colour into his life. Their conversations take place in a dim, secluded workroom, among rusting tools and the Bairnsfather cartoons. The room is usually kept locked and visitors are not encouraged, but Tristan is welcome there.

After Tristan returns from the Bellringers’ outing, Siegfried has gone out on his rounds, hoarse and angry from berating him at breakfast. Ten minutes later Tristan is cheerfully in Old Boardman’s cubbyhole, sharing fresh material from the backs of envelopes while the old man listens and sniggers. The contrast shows the room’s particular function in their friendship: after a public mishap and a reprimand at home, Tristan can re-enter a familiar space where his company is received warmly. Old Boardman is an attentive audience, and his amusement does not depend on Tristan having succeeded.

Memory and Narrative Role

Old Boardman’s stories extend his character beyond the farm’s daily routines. Tristan listens while he smokes a Woodbine and recounts having spent six weeks up the line, with the French on one side and the Jocks on the other. He also remembers Fred standing beside him one moment and then disappearing, with not even a trouser button found. The recollections are fragmentary, but their blunt particulars bring loss into the same secluded room as pig feed, tools, and cartoons.

Through Old Boardman, the narrative sets practical skill beside remembered experience and everyday companionship. His pig-rearing knowledge is validated by the animals and the boiler; his stories, in turn, make him more than a source of advice. Tristan listens with respect, seeks him out after setbacks, and is welcomed into his private workroom. Old Boardman’s importance lies in this combination: he helps make the pigs manageable, and he offers Tristan a steady, receptive presence amid the young man’s recurring misadventures.