How unfair

It wasn’t fair that it tipped it down with rain on the Bank Holiday Monday yesterday.  It was disappointing for everyone who hoped for a last blast of Summer before the long stretch of Autumn with no more days off until…well, you know.

How unfair it was that after so much hard work, the organisers of Winchcombe show woke to the heavy skies and pouring rain with not much better forecast. 

At least people were turning up, prepared for the weather.  We are English, after all.  We can cope with rain!

The situation looked rather more fair in the competition marquee, thankfully, as we judges set to and worked our way through a wealth of extraordinary entries brought in that morning.

I had some lovely things to keep me happy for a couple of hours: this cute lamb was set amongst the greenery with the cutest of sheepdogs waiting behind, wondering who was going to take the prize.  The coloured cards tell it all, though – sadly, the lamb had been stuffed just a little too comfortably for the strength of his seams, so the cheerful fellow in the red neckerchief won through – in spite of not visiting the grooming parlour that morning

It always thrills me to find exquisite traditional craft skills on a show bench and yesterday was no exception.  A couple of beautifully knitted things, including this soft pullover for a child, knitted without a single seam.  All too often, we judge knitted children’s wear which we know will never be worn; old fashioned cardigans knitted in rock-pink acrylic yarn or scratchy woollen pullovers with tightly worked necks and cuffs which a child would never choose when a comfy sweatshirt was on hand.  On this occasion, however, I think that someone will love to wear this comfortable and fashionable design, don’t you?

It wasn’t the only piece of skilful craftwork.  On the next bench, in between a neat crochet tablemat and another beautiful piece of knitting (steeks on a village show bench!) a terrific, solidly constructed basket took the honours.  There might not have been hundreds of entries here, but my goodness, the quality more than made up for that.

Just as I was leaving, I turned to take a quick photo of the crowds and was delighted to find I’d captured the expression on the faces of these two young visitors as they surveyed the results.  Was one of them a prizewinner?  I hope so.

Meanwhile, a couple of entrants were sitting outside, canvassing for votes from the visitors.  At least they didn’t mind the rain.