Getting ready for Castlewellan Show

Getting ready for Castlewellan Show

4 July 2012

THE final touches are being put to preparations for this year’s Castlewellan Show which is celebrating its 45th birthday.

The July 14 event will again be held in the beautiful grounds of the town’s forest park with over 100 people recently attending the pre-show sponsors’ evening held at Maginn’s bar.

Last year’s Castlewellan Show attracted almost 12,000 people and over 4,000 entries across all the classes and with just a matter of days to go until July 14, entries for this year’s show are flooding in, with lots of interest in the schools’ classes for the craft and handwriting sections.

This year’s show will also host both finals of the Ulster Bank Hampshire Down National Championship and the Blonde Calf Championship.

The annual Ivan Porter-Osmonds British Blue young bull championship is always popular and British Shorthorns have been introduced to the show supported by Bank of Ireland.

In the sheep section, the NISA/Northern Bank sheep championship for the best ewe will be a well contested event and the Northern Bank inter-breed always provides a great finale to the day.

Other highlights include the young framers antics supported by Bank of Ireland and the ever-popular working hunters with support from the Burrendale Hotel, with the Feedwell-sponsored dog agility classes promising great entertainment throughout the day.

Generally, there are a large number of qualifying classes across all sections which makes Castlewellan Show a key event in the show calendar.

Elsewhere, the dairy classes go from strength to strength and Switzerland’s Marcel Egil will be in Castlewellan to judge the entries.

Castlewellan continues to attract large numbers of horses, ranging from miniature to agricultural horses with classes throughout the day for thoroughbred, non-thoroughbred, Irish draughts, hunters, ponies and donkey classes. There will also be showjumping.

The local show attracts one of the largest range of rare breeds and numbers of sheep at a one day show in Ireland and in addition to the Northern Bank/NISA sheep championship final, other key events include the Northern Bank Interbreed Championship and the Norbrook Pair of Ewe Lambs Championship.

The British Goat Society classes are sponsored by O’Rourke Timber Gates, Tegral Building Products NI, Churchview Herd and the BR Goat Society, with classes for Toggenburg, British Toggenburg, Saanen, British Saanen, British Alpine as well as a non-pedigree class.

Pigs proved a great draw for spectators last year and will feature again on July 14 with classes for junior boar, sow, senior gilt and junior gilt supported by Walter Watson Engineering. The event will also be a qualifying show for the Tesco Pig Derby.

The poultry section continues to build on its success and the show is delighted to once again host classes for both hard and soft feather birds as well as ducks, sponsored by the McElroy Family, Quails Butchers Dromore, Thompsons and Martin Ball.

One of the main draws for spectators is the dog agility and obedience show, with pure bred and mixed breed dogs put through their paces over a range of fences, hurdles, seesaws through tunnels and round the weaves.

The Tesco Home Industries and schools’ sections attract the largest number of entries of any section and has been an excellent way of getting school children involved in the show.

And, as always, the local Women’s Institutes will be vying for the coveted prize for the best entry in the ‘Celebrating 80 Years of WI’ category, while the scarecrow competition provides a chance for all the family to get involved.

Trade stands and craft stalls bring a wide range of exhibits to the show with local food producers selling their high quality wares and there will be a number of rural pursuits demonstrations during the day, while the NI Bee Keeping Club will be in attendance, with the small family pet competition open to children under 15. There will be live music on site, with free parking and children under 16 admitted free.

Ahead of next week’s event, show officials have issued an appeal for the return of perpetual cups and trophies and are asked to contact Violet Bell, 10 Sleepy Valley, Rathfriland BT34 5HL, telephone (028) 40630536 or email violet@castlewellanshow.plus.com. Full show details are available at www.castlewellanshow.com.