Sonia Rogers (b. 1937)

Track 1: Her background and family name, Pilkington. Track 2: Memories of her childhood home, Stackallen House Co. Meath. Her mother, a keen horsewoman, was a member of the Meath Hunt and kept a pack of hounds. Recollection of the first occasion on which her mother became involved in horse breeding. Track 3: Studied art in Paris as a young woman. Returned home to Stackallen House, helping her mother with the horse breeding business. Met her future husband, Tim Rogers, whom she married in 1965. The couple conducted a horse breeding business from Grangewilliam Stud and also Simmingstown Stud. Track 4: Securing markets overseas. Her husband’s connection to Sir Winston Churchill, whom he served as aide-de-camp during World War II. The bloodstock business begun by her husband, and his purchase of a stud business in New Zealand. Track 5: Following her husband’s death in 1984, the challenges she and their son, Anthony, faced in continuing the business. Track 6: Her husband’s family background, including the ownership of an estate in what is now Adamstown, south Co. Dublin. Track 7: Maintaining and building up the business. Track 8: The challenges and high risks inherent in the horse breeding business.