Wolsingham Show 2011

By Alasdair On September 3, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

Wolsingham is a town in Wear Valley, in western County Durham in the north east of England. It is the type of place you can drive through on the A689 in a matter of minutes, but if you do, you will miss out on sampling a very active local community, full of the type of characters you can expect in the Durham Dales.

The highlight for me of the local calendar is the annual show and having missed last year’s, I was particularly keen to make it this year. To use its ‘Sunday’ name, the 232nd Annual Show of the Wolsingham & Wear Valley Agricultural Society. On the front cover of show programme, being sold by local scouts, the show declares itself to be England’s Oldest Show, “Ye Olde Show” and I know of none older.

There is an excellent account of the history of the show on the website here. Take a look as it will give you flavour of the culture and history of the area.

Arriving fairly early on the morning, though not by agricultural standards, it was easy to get parked with the stewards and marshals doing an excellent job of directing people to the ample parking areas. This ensured within minutes of arriving at the show site, I was right in the heart of it, standing next to the main arena, reviewing the programme deciding where to go first.

First up on my walk were the agility dogs.

I’m still not quite sure who was having more fun; the dogs or the handlers.

It was really interesting to see the dogs involved weren’t just your typical farm dogs, border collies, but were all sorts of breeds as well as a couple of mongrels.

The competition was really more of a demonstration of the skills involved. The commentator explained they were taking a relaxed approach to proceedings today, sticking to a basic set of rules with the handlers taking it in good spirits on the odd occasion when a dog was disqualified for missing an obstacle. However, looking at the faces of the handlers whilst they were doing their runs, I suspect some were taking it quite seriously until they completed the course and the battle was over.

I then went for a wander along to the other end of the main arena where the horses were competing and this was where it was getting really competitive.

Without fail, every single rider and horse was immaculate.

This lady was riding side-saddle and being a towny, I didn’t even know people still did that. In fact, the last time I saw anyone ride side-saddle was at Beamish Museum and they were in period costume. However, amongst the Driving Class, Riding Ponies, Coloured Horses, Ridden Hunters there it was, a class all of its own for Side-saddle. A very elegant site to behold.

In another section, the driving class was being judged. I think of all the driving entries, this is my favourite. If you click on the picture to get the larger version you can see more detail. I like the fluffy cuffs of the horse’s hooves and that, what I assume is Grandfather & Grandson, are wearing matching bowler hats. Plus you can really tell that someone (perhaps the young boy) has spent a lot of time polishing the brass on both the harness and carriage.

Trying to decide where to go next, I turned round and saw the birds of prey, one of whom, the Turkey Vulture, seemed to be giving me a clue about which way I should go next.

So following the advice of my feathered friend, I went off to see the cattle being exhibited.

Now I have to admit, I have no idea how these beasts are judged. In fact, I don’t like to get too close to anything that could flatten me without batting an eye, but thankfully each one had expert handlers that allowed them to parade around the rings without a problem. I couldn’t quite decide what the poles were being used for in this picture. Was it to measure lengths, angles, heights. I wasn’t sure, but this particular beast got some very complimentary comments from people stood near me, who clearly knew a lot more than I could hope to pick up.

One great comedy moment that occurred was when one of the cows waiting to enter the ring with its young handler decided it really had enough of hanging around. It sat down on the ground. The two young lads who were handling it were horrified. They pushed. They pulled. They persuaded. They encouraged. But like the donkey from Winnie The Pooh, this animal had made its mind up that sit down it would. In a desperate attempt, one of the lads grabbed a handful of hay. He guessed the cow was hungry and his instincts proved right. By letting the beast know the hay was there, then holding it up high, the beast was back on its feet. This allowed the other lad to start repairing the damage to the grooming. Much to the amusement of the crowd looking on.

Having spent time with the cattle, I decided to give the sheep as miss and ventured off to the vintage vehicle section of the show.

At least I know more about mechanics than the finer points of pedigree farm animals.

Of all the vintage vehicles on show, the Sweeting and Sons lorry had to be my favourite.

In near mint condition, this lorry could have come straight from the set of a TV show like Heartbeat or The Royal. The highly polished paintwork as well as the immaculately cleaned wheels reminded me I needed to put my own car through the car-wash on the way home.

The only thing this lorry didn’t have was a tax disc from the original period of the vehicle. (If it did, I missed it.)

Walking along the rows of vehicles being proudly displayed, there was one tractor, which in fairness much have been more antique than vintage, where the Dalesman’s ingenuity and improvisation skills were shown clearly, if you took the trouble to look. Rather than have a plush cushioned seat that would get dirty and damp during periods of inclement weather, it had a steel seat. However, to provide the comfort to allow the driver to plough all day, a plastic bag, filled with sand. Voila! Instant seat, customised in shape to the backside of whoever sat behind the wheel. Genius!

I headed next to the tents as the sky had started to darken but had to stop and take this picture.

I would love to be able to what this guy does. Take a fallen tree trunk, fire up the chainsaw and turn it in to a piece of art. Again, click on the picture to get a better view of the blank, the starter tree trunk on the right, and the work in progress in the centre of the picture.

So heading into the tents, I wandered through the food section. There really is a wealth of local produce to be had, that you simply can’t find in your local supermarket. It certainly made me think about even if the supermarkets disappeared from our area, we would not starve, unlike some other parts of the country.

I have barely scratched the surface of the show and what could be seen there, so make sure you note the date in your diary for the 233rd Annual Show next year.

Finally, if you appear in any of the photographs above and would like a high resolution version (or if you would prefer your face blurred out) please send a message using the contact page. In the meantime I’m going to leave you with the pictures below.