Chairman’s Blog

National Farmhouse Breakfast Week 2010

The last week of January and the first two weeks of February saw me out in Primary schools almost every morning, covering most of West Berkshire, for the eleventh HGCA National Farmhouse Breakfast Week.  I supported our Society chefs in making porridge and breakfast smoothies and became quite a dab hand at handing out samples for the children to try. 

The children went on to play breakfast themed games and the coffee bean sacks I provided for the sack race were a great way of informing them that coffee comes from a plant, not a machine! 

A talk using our milking cow Buttercup followed, then the children planted up oat, wheat and grow on.

This project was a great way to get over the message that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and altogether we worked with over 300 pupils and staff in twelve schools.

Mick Crockford

Chairman 2010

16th February 2010

On the 16th February we were very pleased to welcome the Vine and Craven Hunt and followers for a meet of hounds at the Showground.  Warm food and drinks were kindly organised by Carol Pallett and enjoyed by a good number of supporters.

Myself and the President, Mrs Sarah Scropes were pleased to present Miss Emma Chamings with the Balsdon Trophy for the best turned out youngster.

Mick Crockford

Chairman 2010

17th September 2009

Red sky at night , shepherd’s delight ... there was a beautiful sunset over the showground tonight which made me think of the Hot Air Balloon Night glow in the main arena tomorrow night .  All of these plans have been talked about for so long and now it is the real thing!

Gosh how hard everyone works on the showground  and in the show office– I know I am well aware of the work that goes into the structure of a show but to see all the administrative side coming together is inspiring.  Also, each section head can be seen getting all the final details into place to make their section flow throughout the weekend. There are so many ingredients to make it work.  And everything with a deadline of Friday lunchtime or evening! The Show office phone never stops ringing and the reception door never shuts – and all enquiries are to be sorted immediately!    Everyone’s patience is to be applauded. 

Two weekends ago we gave a steward’s training to 150 stewards down in one of the cattle marquees.  A general talk was given first  by our Health and Safety consultant ,  Eric Krawsik.    Then we broke into three groups to look in more detail at important areas as management of crowds; fire training and radio training.    Afterwards a Ploughman’s supper was served reminding everyone of what the Farm labourer would have eaten for his daily lunch 100 years ago.  Following the theme of Good British Food – the cheese was a good British cheddar and will be available on Derek Priestley’s stand in the Food Fare; the bread was from Shepherds in Chieveley and the apples were from Mapledurham Fruit Farm.

We have also had the Society dinner and were lucky to have an after dinner speech from Adrian Gane, Director General of the CLA.  He kept the audience very amused yet still delivered a powerful message.

But to the actual Show now – ticket selling outlets have been doing well and with the final touches tomorrow we will have a show to be proud of to celebrate the Centenary of the Society.  The livestock have begun to arrive and some exhibitors are well settled in with their caravans.  Thank you to everyone involved.  It really does feel like a huge family out there with everyone looking out for one another. 

And we look forward to welcoming you all over the weekend – have fun! 

PLESE REMEMBER that dogs are not allowed on the showground, except guide dogs.

Action in August

A group of faithful volunteers have started marking out of the Showground.  This happens at weekends on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  The team is led by Tim Dennis.  The weather has been in our favour as miraculously at the weekends we have not had the very wet weather that seems to have affected our Summer so far.  Progress has been rapid with Avenues A, B, D and F and the Country Area now completed .  Michael Bissell ensures that we keep all the pegs in line! 

All the hedges around the perimeter of the Showground have been cut and we are really looking ready for a Show.

We have been overwhelmed by the number of livestock entries.  Many have continued to arrive after the extended closing date and sadly we have had to return the entries.   We have just over 570 entries for Cattle,  116 Pigs, 51 goats, 27 camelids  and 300 for sheep.  This means a wonderful spectacle will be on show for the general public and The County of Berkshire Show will have high class livestock competitions.

Under a directive from Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service we have had to rearrange the car parks for those exhibitors camping over the weekend.  A much larger area has had to be allocated to each pitch, 9 metres x 9 metres.  We have spent many hours planning the layout to try and make the arrival and set up as smooth as possible.    We hope the exhibitors benefit from the new layout.   The reasoning for this new directive is following a multiple vehicle fire at Reading Rock Festival in 2008 and it is now considered that by allowing a wider space between each vehicle it will help to stop fire from spreading.   

In addition we have extended the washing bay in  the livestock areas to ensure that we meet the highest standards for biosecurity .  We hope this will be a benefit to the exhibitors.  

The Balsdons hosted, once again, a wonderful Countryside Day for our Junior Members.  They were given a whole day’s experience of activities in the countryside – dog handling, fly fishing, ferret handling, clay shooting, air rifles and handling birds of prey.  How lucky these children are to have experts in each of these fields who have given up their time to come and demonstrate all these individual activities.  The Society is so thankful to all of the volunteers and to the Balsdons for organising the day.

Buttercup the milking cow has had a very busy summer going to many events with our helpers where she has helped to promote the Show.  She has been milked by over 2000 children and at all these events we have handed out many leaflets.  Among the days out there have been outings to the Northmoor Trust Food Festival, Grove Vets Open Day, and Windsor Races.   She is just about go away on holiday down to Devon where there is a regional Girl Guide camp.  We hope she enjoys the fun and games with the girls and earns a well deserved rest.    I’m not sure if she can send a post-card but anything is possible!!

It is now the 19th August and one month today we will have had the first day of the Show!!

July at the Society

I was very lucky to be invited to Park House School by a group of year   10   children.  They sent me a personalised invitation and I witnessed and tasted a delicious lunch.  The menu was thought up by the students and they prepared it themselves.  This is the end of a year’s work carried out by our Education Officer, Jo Millar , and Joe Slevin from Park House School.  It would not have been possible to organise this cookery  school without the help of Nancy Lawson, the Chef, and  Sheepdrove Organic Farm.  The children visited Sheepdrove at the beginning of the year and were shown  how food was produced and throughout the year they have been shown how to cook organic produce.   We are looking forward to September when the programme starts again with the next group of year 10 students.

July has been very wet which, of course, is not good for our farmers trying to start harvest but it does mean that the Showground is in excellent condition.  There has been liming and spraying which was done last month and with the rain  this has helped the grass to grow. 

We are getting near the closing date for livestock entries.  This has been slow to start but it is picking up and we anticipate a good entry.  It seems that other Agricultural Shows have seen the same pattern of  bookings.   We are expecting  a good entry from the  Aberdeen-Angus National Show.

June has been a flurry of Society and Show related events . 

The annual Summer Party was so fortunate to be held at the wonderful home of Harry and Sarah Henderson.  The sun shone and, although a little chilly, the rain held off.  Sadly the hot air balloons could not inflate due to the high winds but just as we were closing everything down for the night one inflated – there were only about a dozen revellers left !-  and it was a beautiful sight to look across the lawn in the dusk to an inflated Hot air balloon.  Waitrose supplied copious amounts of Pimms and wine and plate upon plate of their Waitrose Entertaining food was brought out for everyone to enjoy.  It was  good to see many of the Partners from the Waitrose and Thatcham branches helping to serve the eats and drinks.   We are so grateful to everyone at Waitrose but particularly Karen Himsworth.

The following week Waitrose were spoiling us again with a wonderful Farm Walk to Upper Borelands Farm, north of Salisbury where we were given VIP treatment around the pig breeding unit.    It was a joy to see the pigs all outside and so well cared for .  Many people were on hand to answer questions and we were given a wonderful lunch of hog roast, wine and strawberries and cream.  A couple of local cheese makers who  are suppliers to Waitrose gave out samples of their products.  Then it was on to see the piglets and then a coach ride to Newbury  Waitrose where we were treated to a fascinating talk and tasting on cheese buying , a comprehensive tour of the store and a tasting of various pork products.  Steve Corbett, Manager – Newbury Waitrose,  made us so welcome there and Heather Jenkins, Director – Agricultural Strategy and  Meat, Poultry, Fish , Frozen and  Dairy Buying ,  and her team organised a superb day for us all.

The annual outing to Newbury races was blessed with glorious weather.  All the members who took up this offer could bask in the sunshine on the balcony whilst working out where to loose the next fortune!   The  Centenary tie really stood out that evening so all members were easily spotted across the paddock!  It was great to see many of you there.

In between all of this Buttercup our demonstration milking cow was to be seen at the Food Festival at Northmoor Trust.     When you are talking to all the visitors it is amazing how far many of them have travelled  - good food is an appealing subject  and we are pleased to have our theme for this year’s  Show as Good British Food.   Buttercup was also at the West Woodhay Garden Show. 

On the education front Jo  Millar has been  busy with visits to Schools  and the finals of the Potato Challenge were judged at the Showground.  At the West Woodhay Garden Show there was a wonderful display of a Butterfly Barrel Competition where Primary Schools were asked to make an imaginative planter full of plants that would attract butterflys.  It was creative and colourful with lots of recycling and tyres being filled with plants and a wheelbarrow too.

Meanwhile the Show is really not that far away !  Make sure you have marked the two days in your diary and tell someone who has never been what they are missing and how they should be there !

As I write the rain is lashing down – we do need it .

11th June  - exactly 100 days until the Royal County of Berkshire Show in our Centenary Year.

The 11th June was the opening day of the South of England Show at Ardingly.  The Newbury and District Agricultural Society were exhibiting as every  year the South of England Show affiliate themselves with a Southern County.  2009 was Berkshire’s turn so we took Buttercup the Cow down to Ardingly and Ali Brown produced a wonderful replica of our new logo .  She used lettuces, corn, bark, blueberries and runner beans.    We were saddened to hear of their President’s , Sir Phillip Wroughton, absence due to a heart operation  but are glad to hear he is making a good recovery.

Clem Cooper was awarded with the South of England’s  Award for services to agriculture.  What a fitting person to receive such an award.  When looking back through the Society’s history one realizes what a huge amount of work and time he has dedicated to the Society .  Added to this he has Chaired many other agricultural committees and been a very successful farmer.    His award was presented by HRH Princess Alexandra and his four sons accompanied him and Margaret.

2009 is turning out to be a busy one .  We had a wonderful Centenary dinner for all Presidents and  Past Chairmen held at Woolley Park , by kind permission of Mrs Kirsten Loyd.   It was marvellous to see just over 50 Past Presidents and Past Chairmen and their partners at this occasion.

The Rogation service held in  my home village of Streatley  was not blessed with good weather but somehow it all added to the British feel and the querkiness of the occasion  with everyone travelling round the Bishops farm – alongside the Thames and around the crops.  (Our grateful thanks to the Bishops).  The Wantage Silver Band did us proud against the driving rain and wind and we were able to consider all those in agriculture and bless our crops, livestock, those associated with the river  and our communities.  Over 100 of you attended this service .  It was lovely to see so many from Streatley and to have all the support for the teas from the Parishioners – what a great community we live in.

Our first Farm Walk was an extremely special day.  We visited the Royal Farms at Windsor and Mark Osman gave us a truly memorable tour.  We were almost made to feel royal ourselves   and definitely felt extremely privileged to be the first people to see the robotic milking machines in action.  How extraordinary to see the cows taking themselves into the cubicle to be milked ;  they can be milked up to four times a day.

We are looking forward to the West Woodhay Garden Show this coming weekend (20/21 June) where the Society will have a stand.  We are promoting our educational activities and will have a Butterfly  Barrel competition – this is for schools to participate in and the most attractive scheme with plenty of native and other species which attract good bugs and butterflies will receive the most points.

Our Summer Party is on Saturday night (20 June)  and this promises to be a fun occasion with 240 already booked to come .   Waitrose are very kindly supporting us with the food and drink for the evening and we have a 5 piece Jazz Band to entertain us.  We are looking forward to seeing the vintage Hot Air Balloons which will be inflating and hopefully flying (if the weather allows) .  They will be marking the Society’s 100th Birthday and also the 25 years association of having Hot Air Balloons at the County Show.

Hope to see you at one of the Society functions soon -