Record numbers flock to 118th annual Glendale Show
Aug 31 2010 by Brian Daniel, The Journal
GLORIOUS sunshine made for a bumper turnout at yesterday’s Glendale Show. The event, held for the 118th time, saw bank holiday crowds flock to the sun-baked showfield near Wooler, in Northumberland.
There they enjoyed a host of entertainment in the main show ring including a Red Devils parachute display, the sport of horse ball and music from the City of Newcastle Pipe Band.
And for the first time there was also a new entertainment marquee which featured a cookery demonstration by North East chef Richard Sim, a Ready Steady Cook contest and children’s fashion shows.
It is still not known exactly how many people turned up for the event but organisers, the Glendale Agricultural Society, said the indications were it would be a massive turnout.
Secretary Rachael Smith said earlier in the day: “It is going fantastic, absolutely fantastic. The sun has shone in the morning, making everybody want to come out to go somewhere – and they have come along to the Glendale Show. After yesterday’s bad weather, we could not have been more lucky. Even by 10am it was extremely busy. I have never seen the show ground so busy by 10am.”
Record entries were reported in both the horse show and livestock section, with over 260 in the former and more than 320 in the latter.
Winners in the livestock categories got the chance to parade their animals around the show ring.
At the same time, organisers made a special presentation to Duncan Davidson, the society’s retiring president, who is being replaced by Michael Walton.
Entries in the industrial and horticultural sections were also high. All committee members were obliged to enter a new competition to find the best gladioli, with the winner being chief trade steward Jimmy Straughan, 58, of Lilburn Glebe, who put his success down to the efforts of wife Helen.
Among the crowds enjoying the show was farmer Stuart Gray, of Great Ryle, near Whittingham and his wife Rachael.
Their two-year-old daughter Ellie was the star of the new children’s fashion show, organised by babies’ clothing website Sweetie Home.
Ellie was sporting some of the pyjamas and took to the catwalk so well her parents believe there could be a career in the making.
Stuart said: “She loved it.” Rachael added: “She said she wanted to do it so she could dance.”
Also at the show were a plucky group of men from the Wooler area who have bared all to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance.
Seventeen men from the village have produced a naked calendar, with their modesty covered only by strategically placed walls, branches, shrubs or fences.
Organiser David Wilson said: “It was a late night session that led to it, a lot of people volunteered and said yes over a few pints of Guinness.
“The next day they half remembered and half agreed to do it. Living up here in the rural areas, the air ambulance is a really vital service. There have been a few incidents in the last couple of years where local people have needed it, otherwise they would not have made it.”
The men are hoping to raise more than £1,500 and the calendar will be on sale on shops in Wooler.
Even by 10am it was extremely busy. I have never seen the show ground so busy by 10am
