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The 136th Loweswater and Brackenthwaite Agricultural Show 2012 " The Loweswater Show " Held on the 1st Sunday of September each year in the fields opposite New House Farm, Lorton Valley, Cumbria, UK. courtesy of the Hope Family of Corn How, Loweswater. Details : One of the classic Lakeland Agricultural Shows with events and entertainment both on and off the field. Attended with : Ann and many of our friends, plus almost 2000 other show-goers on the day. Weather : Lovely weather after a damp night, the ground dried nicely and the sun shone all day.
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" The Loweswater Show 2012 " at EveryTrail [ Alter the settings to zoom or change the Map, use Everytrail to download the Gps route ] |
There's a tradition in Cumbria, as there is no doubt through the rest of the world, to organise a local social gathering, to celebrate what people do best, to compare and to compete in a friendly way and generally bring folk together to celebrate the community in which they live. The Cumbrian Agricultural Shows are no exception and each late Summer they are held in various communities around the county. The first Sunday in September is now the accepted date for the Loweswater Show. So whether you be a farmer, a local tradesman, a child, a pensioner or a visitor to the area come along and enjoy "The Show" and through these photos and sound archive, see my record of the valley's day out together. Welcome to " The Loweswater Show " Parking on the field but take care of traffic approaching on the wrong side of the grass. So many people have invested time and energy into today, and many have travelled quite a distance, so it is a great relief after such a wet summer that the show is blessed with a dry spell of weather. The field is ready, the sun is out, and everyone is arriving. The first attraction we visit is the sheep and goat section. A fine Swaledale. They make a good fell animal as they can withstand hard weather and poor grazing conditions. A pen of four Texels The breed is famous for good meat production. Up close with the Texels ! I believe these are black faced "Suffolk" Sheep . . . entered under the "any other breed" classification. Definitely goats in these pens . . . I kid you not ! The Jacobs Sheep class
Guardian of the high Fell. Even the press are here for that award-winning photo "Best in Show". The show is already in full swing . . . There's some serious amateur judging going on too . . . The judging of the "Best Sheepdog" ( based on their looks, not performance in the field . . . that's a different competition) The show is blessed with a commercial section . . . where local traders display and sell their produce. Over the back in the previous photo, the First Responder's Tent where you can learn about the local volunteers' efforts and how they assist the Ambulance Service with quick response teams in the event of life threatening incidents such as heart failure here in the valley. Try your hand at Mouth-to-Mouth resuscitation and Heart Compressions on their training manikin. Feeling peckish (we were) try a Pancake or crepe . . . freshly cooked. Browse the jewellery next door after you have enjoyed your food. The Craft Fair tent . . . buy a Show Raffle ticket outside or dive in to check out the craft stalls. Shoe-shine Madam ? or buy specialty meats from the refrigerated trailer opposite. Pictures, photo prints, cards, pottery, needlework, quilting . . . the choice is yours. Outside in the first main ring the Children's Pets competition is reaching its conclusion. The Junior Fell race sees another competitor complete the shorter course. After the Pets competitions there were Children's Games and Sports in the arena.
The main race of the day starts with registration in the Secretary's Tent. Runners for the Senior Fell Race gather close to the main gate. Under Starters Orders . . . the steward gives final instructions and confirms the route . . . They're off . . . looking fresh and eager. Across the road and out alongside New House Farm and Tearooms. Across the fields . . . target time to the marker on Dodd and back . . . about twenty five minutes. The Cockermouth Mechanics Band gave an excellent performance.
Click on the video to watch them play . . . and to enjoy the music . On the way back to meet Ann and the others I stopped to watch a little of the "Heavy Horse" competition. " Stand still while you are being judged please !" A beautifully turned out Clydesdale. There were also competitions for Turnout, Saddle, Heavy, Fell Pony and Shetland Classes. Competitions for more experienced riders and youngsters too. Walking round the show ground I spend a few minutes admiring the expertise of the sheep dogs and their handlers in the adjacent field. Unfortunately I didn't have time to view the Hound Trailing in the field across the road so no pictures from there.
Meanwhile our little party had gathered a few chairs from the car and were enjoying the events in the ring from the relative comfort of their outdoor armchairs. Regular viewers of Loweswatercam may recognise Jo, Ian Smith, Andrew and Anne Leaney, Hilton and myself. Oh . . . and the dogs, Amber, Bethan, Harry and Hilton's Dalmatian Suzy.
Ann's seated position gives an unusual perspective . . . but William was saying the problems of transporting cattle are much greater than sheep and there has been insufficient interest in having Cattle Class Competitions for the past few years. Seated in their own little grandstand, the guys study progress of the distant fell runners.
You can just see the marshall high on the fell at the turn-around point. It is a 2.6 mile course with a 1000 ft climb. Time to check out the Vintage Section before they return . . . starting with this immaculate 1934 Austin 10. Next to it, a restored Bond Three-Wheeler ( Don't show your age Roger . . . even though you travelled across mid-Wales in an original one of those many years back !) An unusual two horse-power 1943 McCormac Deering market garden tractor and its proud owner, Mr Graham I believe. The winning entry in the Vintage Section was this superb 1962 Land Rover Series 2 vehicle in full show condition, complete with winners Cup and rosettes.
Class 66 . . . " An individual Starter "
" Three Items for Afternoon Tea on a tea plate."
A question posed to Nancy Fearon requires a little thought before answering.
A delightful competition for the best " School Photo ".
A lot more effort went into making "An animal made from fruit and veg". The winner Luke Williamson fashioned two penguins out of Aubergines. There was a competition for the best " Bunch of Herbs ". The Olympics was the theme behind the " Limerick Competition " (check out the winner !)
The Winner's Cup presented here was for the individual person gaining the highest number of points in the Industrial Section. Before returning to the main ring we called in to the Poultry Tent . . . here a prize winning specialty fowl.
This beautiful white duck in another cage. (Apologies but I failed to collect a Poultry Tent programme to know which class was which)
Also in the tent at this time, local personality Mr Chris Todd, farmer and TV's " One Man and his Dog " National winner in his time.
Mr Hayton was a long term committee member and judge on the field today. He gave the main speech at the Grand Parade in the ring where he paid tribute to the hard work of all the exhibitors, officials, the sponsors and to the army of local volunteers without whom the show could not go on. [ A full list of Show officials and can be found in the Show Programme.]
We finished the afternoon watching the Carriage Competitions in the main ring. The first two events were for a " Private Driving Carriage " and a competition for an " Exercise Vehicle ". This was followed by the " Cone Driving Competition ".
The afternoon continued with the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling. There was a record breaking entry in the children's section. Sometimes the draw brought together two rather unequally-sized competitors. There were several predictable winners on the way to the finals . . . Occasionally table were turned against the odds . . . But many equal matches provided great competition. - - - o o o - - - Time constraints on us meant that we had to leave before the end of the show so we had no photos of the later adult sections but the day progressed to a conclusion soon after. - - - o o o - - - Another successful show with the weather coming up trumps on the day complimenting everyone's hard work that went into the production of the 2012 Loweswater Show.
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Technical note: Pictures taken with either Ann's Canon Sureshot SX220, my Canon G10 or 1100D SLR digital cameras. Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder. This site best viewed with . . . wall to wall sunshine on the day. Go to Top . . . © RmH . . . Email me here Click here for archive pictures from the Shows - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 Loweswater Show now has it's own website - click here Click here for the Loweswatercam Walking and Events Home Page.
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