IT was a double success for John Jordan of Gidleigh last Thursday, when he triumphed at his local show at Chagford, with best cow and calf following on from success at Okehampton the week before. John is no stranger to success in the horse and sheep classes at previous shows, but the credit for the decision to exhibit cattle this year rested with another member of the family. ?It was my son Robert?s idea to show them. This is only their second time out but after winning at Okehampton last week, we thought we were in with a chance,? he said. John said he had been coming to Chagford for many years and the show just kept getting bigger and bigger. ?It is a lovely one-day show,? he added. In the sheep classes, Stephen Ley from Bridestowe won the Hampson Cup for supreme sheep in show for a one-year-old Texel. Stephen said he had been keeping the breed for around eight years and enjoyed showing them at Chagford. ?It is a nice local show,? he said. All things equestrian are to the fore at the showfields at Mill End, Chagford with nearly 80 horse classes and this year?s supreme horse champions were Mr and Mrs K Locke from Jacobstowe, near Okehampton with Oakleaf Heather Queen. Show secretary Sally Hutchings said the crowd numbers looked to be up for this year?s 105th show and she said there was much for families to see and do besides the animal sections. ?We are expanding the Devon Food Hall this year and offering local food and drink producers the chance to exhibit for free, so hopefully if we get good feedback we will be able to do a bigger one next year,? she said. Show President Richard Vines said he could not think of a more beautiful site for a county show. He told those gathered at the show although successive governments had marginalised rural husbandry, there was still cause for hope in the farming community. ?There is a farming revolution going on and there are opportunities coming out of the problems being faced,? he said. ?The more farming is in decline, the more support for these farming shows grows each year.? Dartmoor photographer Chris Chapman was invited by organisers to hold the launch of his new photographic book Silence at Ramscliffe: Foot and Mouth in Devon at the show. The glossy book features stunning black and white photographs taken on two farms decimated by the foot and mouth crisis during 2001, Chris? evocative photographs are accompanied by a number of powerful poems by Westcountry poet Jack Crowden. Chris said: ?There have been a number of books about foot and mouth but this is the first photographic study that deals with the crisis in Devon.? In the main ring, entertainment was provided by the unusual sight of farmer Victor Pitts using a sheepdog to round up ducks rather than the traditional flock of sheep, the Wax ?n Wain comedy trampoline duo, a demonstration by Mid Devon Pony Club and terrier racing. The Mid Devon Hunt and North Devon Beagles were parading for the first time since the ban on hunting with dogs and drew large cheers from the ringside audience. This year?s chosen charity was CLIC Sargent Cancer Care, which receives all proceeds from the Chagford Show draw held on the day.
