Looking Forward to the 2008 Bakewell Show
Can’t believe it’s that blogging time of the year again, when all good men and true come to the aid of the party…or in our case, the aid of the Show. Bakewell Show that is.
Yes, with just a month to go to August 6th and 7th things are hotting up – let’s hope that includes the weather. What have we got lined up for visitors this year? Well Titan is back – he’s the robot we had last year. Organisers say he’s eight foot; I, being slightly prone to exaggeration say he’s nine foot – but who’s measuring? He’s a whole heap of entertainment and that’s what matters.
He was brilliant last year interacting with the crowds – hopefully our visitors will take note of when he’s on so they won’t be disappointed. Just for the record it’s outside the Agricultural Centre at 11am and 4pm each day.
At the other end of the size scale we have the Solent Eagles junior motorcycle team – little people aged from four upwards doing stunts in the centre ring. Now if that doesn’t have the aahhh! factor I don’t know what does.
And a message for the foodies – the old Food and Farming marquee is no more. Instead all the specialist food people will be in the Agricultural Business Centre which will become the new Food Hall during the show.
Organisers believe it will be a great improvement since there will be no wading through flattened grass and wood chippings to enjoy the show’s traditional gastronomic treats.
Don’t forget it’s much cheaper if you buy your tickets before the show – and if you buy them online it’s more convenient too. Log of to www.bakewellshow.org or ring 01629 812 736. Adults are £9 pre-show and £10 on the gate; children and senior citizens are £7 pre-show and £8 on the gate – and incredible value-for-money family tickets are £25 pre-show compared with £30 on the gate. So get clicking (or dialling) and don’t miss out!
Published Date:
04/07/2008
Modified Date:
04/07/2008
Let's All Go to the Bakewell Show!
Whoops! I seem to have slipped a bit – but the rate at which things are moving for Bakewell Show, I’m not surprised.
Less than two weeks to go to August 1st and 2nd and the showground is beginning its annual transformation. Each year I marvel at the speed in which an empty green area with grazing sheep and a rugby pitch becomes a tented village full of people enjoying the best of what the countryside has to offer – animals, food, flowers, trade stands. It’s a hive of activity full of colour and fun. Then suddenly it’s all over and the showground is given back to the grazing sheep and rugby players.
We still don’t really know what the weather is going to be like. Mind you, even if we had a forecast there’s nothing to say it’s going to be accurate. Remember the heatwave predictions for 2007? We all took it to mean the UK, when all the time the 50 degrees plus temperatures were going to be in Greece and Turkey.
Come on guys give us some of your sunshine – you don’t need all that heat!
But with or without it, we’ll carry on – as our manager Janet Bailey says: “We’re like the Windmill, we never close!” If foot and mouth couldn’t beat us a few drops of rain certainly won’t.
By the way, time is running out for you to buy your pre-show tickets at reduced prices. They’re great value on the gate – but an even better bargain if you buy them beforehand – particularly the family tickets which admit two adults and two children or pensioners which are only £25 before July 31st…a saving of £5. Adults are £10 on the gate (£8 in advance) and children/pensions £8 (£6 in advance). You can ring up and pay by credit card – what could be simpler?
Nothing else to report at the moment – don’t forget if you’re a Scout, come in your uniform and you get in free…and you can join in the Centenary sunrise ceremony on the Village Green at 8am on the Wednesday morning.
One last blog before the show – and I’ll make sure it’s a good one!
Published Date:
20/07/2007
Modified Date:
20/07/2007
Bakewell will be Baking!!!
With the ‘big’ Royal Show closing its doors a day early because of the wet weather, it’s now up to Bakewell to fly the flag - after all we are known as The Little Royal.
The fact that some meteorologist has come out and said we’re only having one summer’s day this year and it’ll be July 15th, is a bit disconcerting - especially as the Bakewell Show is taking place on August 1st and 2nd. But what does he know? Probably suffering from high pressure blown in from the west...
Four weeks to go, show spirits are high, and organisers are not going to be sunk by the rain.
Have I mentioned this year’s dog show? It’s going to be phenomenal. Bakewell Show’s Open Dog Show has been awarded Premier Status by the Kennel Club, which means that every best of breed will qualify for Crufts. It’s a real feather in our cap because there are only a handful of shows across the country to have the accolade - and its thanks in no small measure to the hard work of dog section secretary Roger Taylor and chairman Dorrie Patterson.
At a time when entries at other shows have been declining, Roger and Dorrie and their dedicated team have steadily increased the number of entries at Bakewell year on year. And what began in a small area on the showground, now has its own extensive dog field.
What’s the secret? ‘Wonderful hospitality’ and ‘a very well organised event’ come top of the judges’ feedback. And speaking of judges - we have one coming all the way from Moscow to judge the specialist terriers. Dr Vladimir Urazhevski, President of the Russian Kennel Club is travelling at his own expense to be at Bakewell. He is coming with his 15-year-old daughter, a top Russian model who will act as his interpreter...now if that isn’t a tribute to Bakewell’s reputation internationally, I don’t know what is!
But your pooch doesn’t need to be a showstopper to come to Bakewell. It may not be able to enter the dog show, but it can come along for fun. We’ve got a special doggy creche this year, so when either you or your dog gets tired of wandering around, you can take break and know Rover, or Fido or whatever will be properly looked after. We’ve had problems in the past with people thoughtlessly leaving their animals in their cars while they go to the show. And one year we had to break into a vehicle to rescue a distressed dog. This year there is no excuse!
Don’t forget that tickets are cheaper if you buy them before the show. Call the show office on 01629 812736 or go on line to www.bakewellshow.org to book them before July 25th!
ends...
Published Date:
04/07/2007
Modified Date:
20/07/2007
Dunkirk Spirit lives on at Bakewell Show
The more astute among you will have realised that an update to Bunty’s Bakewell Show blog didn’t happen last week!
I’d like to pretend it was because of some heroic act rescuing people from the flood waters or making tea for old ladies while they waited in a community hall somewhere until they could go back to the rain-sodden homes.
Unfortunately the truth is less heroic: I was away - celebrating!
Now there are those who may wonder why, with just FIVE weeks to go before the show, I’m not at my post supporting Show Manager Janet Bailey and her stalwart team...but the truth is they are so well-organised that it’s just a matter of crossing the ‘ts’ and dotting the ‘is’ and Bakewell Show 2007 on August 1st and 2nd will be on its way.
With everything in place there is just one thing they can’t do anything about and that brings us back to the weather...
Bakewell Show has a bit of a reputation when it comes to weather. I clearly recall 30 years ago whenever it rained at the beginning of August that people would mutter darkly: “Well what do you expect - it’s Bakewell Show!”
It’s true we have had our fair share of wet shows - indeed that was one of the prime reasons the show went to two days back in 1980. Organisers felt that they had a fighting chance of at least one of the days being fine.
But unlike other shows, Bakewell has never been cancelled because of the weather; indeed our visitors have developed something of a Dunkirk spirit and bravely don their wellies, shake out their brollies and just...get on with it.
Mind you it was touch and go a couple of years ago when we had a deluge and shows and events in the surrounding areas were all called off. We brought in the fire brigade and private contractors to pump gallons of water off the showground, we scattered tons of straw to make it dry underfoot and we put metal tracks down in the car parks to help drivers get in and out safely.
Our greatest asset on that occasion - as with every other adversity that we face is...to keep a sense of humour. We’ve still got a photograph of a pool in the middle of the horticulture tent which we couldn’t drain where some wag has stuck a ‘No Swimming’ notice.
There’s a lot to be said for NOT looking at the long term forecast; so, it may rain, so what? It will still be a great two days out and if you have to bring your wet weather gear - bring it.
The excitement is building, why should a drop of rain - even a rather large one - spoil it?
Published Date:
27/06/2007
Modified Date:
20/07/2007
Premier Dog Show at Bakewell
Well, talk about being put in my place...in the nicest possible way of course. But a young man (why do I assume he's a young man?) has corrected my reference to the King of the Daleks a couple of weeks ago.
And if I'm perfectly honest, being of an age where most Saturday afternoons were spent cowering behind the sofa while Dr Who was on the tele, I should have remembered that their leader was Davros.
I think it was in the days when William Hartnell was the Doctor (correct me if I'm wrong Dan!) Or maybe it was Tom Baker... Anyway, whoever it was, Dr Who isn't the only thing that's scary - there are just SEVEN WEEKS to go to Bakewell Show on August 1st and 2nd...that's scary!
Not that Janet Bailey and her team aren't ready, they are supremely efficient; it's just that you seem to plan and plan and suddenly it's here. And the dog section has had a lot of extra planning to do this year after being awarded Premier Status - which is the doggy world equivalent of making it to the last handful of contestants in The Apprentice. There are only seven shows in the whole country who have this accolade which means that the champion in every class automatically goes to Crufts.
What that means is that there will be even more dog owners clamouring to enter at Bakewell Show, which already has record entries each year. Can't believe when it started 30 years ago it occupied a tiny corner of the showground.
Who'd have thought then that in 2007 the show would be so prestigious that Dr Vladimir Urazhevski, president of the Russian Kennel Club, would trek all the way to Derbyshire to judge the Champion Stakes?
Dorrie Patterson, in charge of the dog section modestly thinks the venue is a big attraction: "People come, not just to bring their dogs, but to enjoy the rest of the show," she said. So nothing to do with the superb organisation and the nothing-is-too-much-trouble attitude of Dorrie and her team then?
Even dogs not entered in the show are catered for - there's a dog-sitting service so the pets can enjoy a day out too without being boiled in hot cars!
PS Entries are coming in for the eco garden competition - don¹t miss out log on to www.bakewellshow.org to find out more.
Published Date:
14/06/2007
Modified Date:
27/06/2007
Bakewell Show celebrates 100 years of Scouting
Do you remember the good old days of Ging Gang Gooly Gooly Gooly wotsits? And bell tents that smelled of damp oil cloth...and the "emergency kit" you kept in your pocket - a safety pin, a sixpence and a piece of string?
Ok so you might not have got round to whittling a tent peg from a piece of wood or cooking custard over a camp fire, but lots of us have happy memories of Scouting. It was a time of sleeping under the stars and singing your socks off round a blazing bonfire; playing team games and sewing badges on your tunic to show you could read a compass and make a children's toy.
Yes, I know that in those days I could never have been a Scout, but Guiding was much the same....except that being a woman I never did quite master the art of knowing my north from my east or my south from my west. Anyway - what has all this to do with Bakewell Show - which, in case you need reminding is just eight weeks away on August 1st and 2nd?
Well, on August 1st the whole world will be celebrating 100 years of Scouting with a global ceremony where Scouts can renew their promise - and for the Scouts of Derbyshire that will be on the Village Green at Bakewell Show at 8am.
Imagine, all those young people - and some not so young - gathering in one place to repeat their pledge to do their duty to God and the Queen.... I reckon it will be a very moving occasion and one to be shared across the region.
The Scouts will play a very active part in Bakewell Show this year - stewarding, manning a new information desk just outside the show office and distributing leaflets to children showing them who to approach if they get lost.
We're really looking forward to having them on the showground - and what they do will all be in tune with the Scouting ethos. Oh, by the way, to show our commitment to the movement - Scouts in uniform will be admitted free to the Showground.
And, just in case there are any Dads out there who are thinking about rooting through the loft, shaking the moth balls out of their old knee length khaki shorts and blowing the dust off their scraves and woggles...we mean current Scouts! Although of course the rest of you will be very welcome, and if you buy your tickets ahead of the show, you get a really good discount. Give the office a ring on 01629 812736 or book on the website www.bakewellshow.org
Published Date:
08/06/2007
Modified Date:
27/06/2007
Bakewell welcomes Titan the Robot
What's more than eight feet tall, made out of metal, flashes like a hysterical light box and sings "Lady in Red" when he's within chucking distance of a woman wearing anything scarlet?
And that's just on the outside.
The inside is even more exciting - well, for a certain Bunty Seymour anyway! For in among the controls is a beefy guy called Mark who in his personna as Titan the Robot is going to be the main attraction at Bakewell Show this year.
Show Manager Janet Bailey was bowled over when she saw him at the Showman's Show last year and booked him immediately. Titan will be different from anything else we've ever had at the show. Instead of being in the centre ring, he will arrive on the pillion of a motorbike and sweep onto the Village Green where he will do a live performance.
Apart from the singing (Metal Mickey and King of the Daleks eat your heart out) he can stop a crying child at ten paces by tenderly chucking it under the chin.
Since the launch in 2004 Titan has been a runaway success. He took more than four years after to build and perfect and has become the 'must have' act at all the best shows, He's travelled the globe from China to Dubai - and now he's appearing in Bakewell.
The HMS Sultan Summer Show has booked Titan three times in a row. Lt Cdr Hanslip says he's amazing, unique and great entertainment for the whole family. And David Goff of the Kent Show, who has rebooked him for this year says he's the biggest WOW factor to hit the Kent Show for years!
So if you fancy getting to know an eight foot robot - from a purely technical and entertainment point of view of course . There are just nine weeks to go before the show on August 1st and 2nd - and if you buy your tickets now you can save loads of money. You can do it on line using your credit card - just log on to www.bakewellshow.org.
Published Date:
31/05/2007
Modified Date:
27/06/2007
Happy in the Heat Garden Comp at Bakewell Show
It's probably not uppermost in your mind as you wrestle a rose bush or fight a fir tree in a valiant bid to keep the garden tidy but - what happens to the bits you cut off?
Yes, I know the bin men deign to come round every other week and empty your green bin...it would be hard NOT to know that after all the publicity they've been getting these past few weeks. But what happens after that? I'd not normally give it that much thought, but I found out this week - and the answer is fascinating...
Let me introduce myself: Bunty Seymour here, the eyes and ears of Bakewell Show, which - can you believe it? - is just 10 weeks away.
TEN WEEKS! Are we ever going to be ready? Gosh, it seems only five minutes since last year when we were taking down the tents, filling in the holes and congratulating ourselves on another jolly good show.
Shame about the rain on the first day, we really could have done without that. But fingers crossed the long term weather forecast looks set fair for this year - assuming, that is, you can trust the weathermen to know.
It's ironic, but you can spend months, sometimes years, getting everything just right, but you are still a hostage to the weather. What a good job Bakewell Show stalwarts don¹t seem to care and pack their brollies along with their sun cream.
Not that we want a heatwave either. One of our most spectacular losses was the year that it was warm enough to fry the proverbial egg on the pavement, and people stayed away in droves.
So...everyone who loves Bakewell Show - on your knees and pray for what we like to call perfect show weather, neither too hot nor too cold. We don't mind a light shower to freshen things up at the beginning of the day, but no full on rain, thank you very much.
Funnily enough we have launched a new competition this year which is a bit to do with the weather - well climate change actually - and that's where I discovered what happens to the garden bits, and, indeed, other household waste.
The competition is to design a drought-resistant garden and it ties in nicely with our mission to be seen as a "green" show. We took our first eco-friendly steps in 2005 when we took on rubbish contractors who recycle all the waste from the showground - now we want to go further.
The finalists will come to the show and create raised-bed gardens in special units made from environmentally-friendly recycled uPVC; the mulch - which is designed to hold the water - is specially-treated straw...and the compost will come from RECYCLED GARDEN WASTE. So now you know.
There's a new shield for the winner and some cash prizes, all the finalists get to keep the raised beds, compost and mulch - and of course they get into the show free!
If you want to enter ring the Show Office on 01629 812736 and they'll send you an entry form.
More news next week...
Published Date:
29/05/2007
Modified Date:
27/06/2007