"To everything
there is a season"
I'm passionate about gardening and history
and it's not too often that the chance comes to combine the two. This
summer, our village celebrated the 60th Anniversary of its Horticultural
Show and it gave me an opportunity to root into the past of families
and traditions that linger on today.
Way back in April 1955, a 'sprinkling'
of local gardeners met to discuss the revival of a previously defunct
village Show. I have the Minutes from that meeting; handwritten in a
yellowing, school exercise book with Imperial Arithmetic Tables on the
back cover. The Secretary wrote in the cursive, copperplate style taught
in school in his childhood, "A meeting was held at Church House
to discuss the formation of a Society to continue the Horticultural Show
in place of the one which has been disbanded".
I asked some of today's
exhibitors, who are descendants of the
old committee, if they had any recollections
and memories of the earlier show but these focused
around 1950. The obvious next step - isn't it
always- was to Google,'horse show, Cornwall,
agricultural' and I hit on a fascinating website,
British Newspaper Archives. I dug around into
old, Cornish newspaper articles and I read that
the village had a 'Horse and Dog Show' as long
ago as the 1920's. The final one, in August 1951,
was held “In fine weather and entries surpassed
all expectations". But as tractors replaced
horses, the old ways disappeared with intensified
farming methods and prompted the demise of the
traditional shows.
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The content of the papers
has changed little through the years when
reporting on summer fetes and festivals, although
now the words are supported by colour photos
of smiling prize winners. I found snippets about
instances that wouldn't happen today, particularly
when it comes to 'Health and Safety' issues.
In 1935, a cup was NOT awarded in the tug'o'war
as a dispute erupted into a fight, there were
egg and spoon races on motorbikes and a woman's
foot was trodden on by a horse and treated by
a vet!
In 1928, a darker side of
competing was exposed; 'The Cornishman' reported
that Richard Pascoe from Penrose Road, Helston
entered his unschooled cob into a jumping class
and at the first hurdle the horse swerved, the
next jump was furze and she shied again. Her noseband
broke in panic and the rider was advised not to
go in the ring, but third place prize money was
at stake and he ignored the warning. The cob sheered
away from the hurdle and Mr. Pascoe was thrown
and died from a head injury.
The Horse and Dog Show had
included horticultural, domestic and handicraft
sections and when the show was revived, it was
without animals. The schedule has change over the
years; we no longer have a Dairy section with honey,
scalded cream and butter, or knitted gloves and
crocheted bed jacket. The trussed chicken and dough
cake have been updated to fancy bread and decorated
cupcakes, although it would be sacrilege to move
too far from our roots and there's a cup awarded
for most points in Cornish traditional cookery:
a pasty, heavy cake, fairings and splits.
Village shows derived as
a result of the necessity to be self-sufficient:
women cooked, baked, made preserves and kept
chickens and bees and men grew vegetables amongst
the flowers in cottage gardens. The simplicity
of a community coming together to show off their
produce and catch up with gossip over a cuppa,
still remains at the heart of country life and
it delights me that our village show isn't out
of place or time today.
But the question is... will
there be a 61st Show? I've had to change the ending
to this article because since I began, my very
dear friend, who worked with me as Secretary, has
died. No pain, no warning...just died. Death rode
by, smothered her in his bat-black cloak, sucking
the life-force from her as quickly as a flower
in its glory being trampled.
I'm shocked at the fragility of
the slender thread between life and death and am
only certain at this moment that nature, at least,
will regenerate.
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