Sunday 15 July 2007

Derby County Show


All Wheels a spinning!
Was this Elvaston or Glastonbury?
In any event the Derby County Show on the 24th June was a complete mud bath. There were furrows in the field from before the 8am start-up time. Then a couple of hours later when it rained in earnest a river started running through the craft marquee. Straw had to be brought in to help with the water and mud problem. Then in the afternoon the temperature and the humidity in the marquee were nearly unbearable. In spite of this there was a high turnout of be-wellied visitors to the show. Duckboards were put down round the site, with tractors, vans and pushchair pushing parents juggling for position on them. Most of the beautiful polished tractors in the exhibition area had to be pressed into service tugging cars out of ruts and horseboxes across the fields.
Maxine, Frances and Mary turned out for the Guild to demonstrate their spinning skills. Frances braved the rain and cycled from her home in central Derby to Elvaston bearing her Louet wheel and Jacob fleece. Maybe Frances had the right idea cycling, because despite listening carefully to instructions Mary got stuck in the mud for an hour on leaving the show (car wheels a spinning) and had to be pulled out by tractor.

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