IF you’ve been feeling a bit unsettled given the political and financial uncertainty of the last few weeks, then a trip to the Great Yorkshire Show is one way of reaffirming your confidence in the world.
Tens of thousands of people descend on the Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate for the countryside’s annual three-day shindig.
You need a map to traverse an event that is the size of a small town, but for all the many thousands in attendance, there is a really friendly, family atmosphere.
Mind you, I did think that the recent political backstabbing and underhand plots at Westminster were going to be replicated at the Great Yorkshire Show when a dairy cattle exhibitor was disqualified on the first day after an animal was “tampered” with.
The Yorkshire Agricultural Society confirmed a “substance” was used on the cow’s udders, contravening show rules.
I was there on Tuesday but never touched any udders.
The event always presents some interesting sights – including the juxtapositioning of a bull semen specialist’s stand opposite a stall selling pork and beef baps.
Tourist organisation Welcome to Yorkshire always has the biggest stand at the show and this year it included ferret racing, alpacas, a steam locomotive and cricketing great Geoffrey Boycott.
Geoffrey was in a good mood, posing for photographs with Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Sir Gary Verity, eating ice cream sitting on deckchairs on a mock up of Scarborough beach.
Lauded in Yorkshire, Boycott’s single minded approach to his sport means that he is not universally popular.
A politician once told me that one of their proudest achievements was blocking him getting an award.
I suppose he polarises opinion – a bit like politicians.
Boycott later presented the award for Yorkshire’s favourite pub to The Bull Inn at West Tanfield near Ripon.
I bumped into the pub’s landlady Gil Richardson at the Black Sheep Bar at the show where she was clearly delighted with the accolade.
I said that I knew that 18,000 people had voted in the contest, but I couldn’t help wondering if the photo I spotted on the wall of Sir Gary Verity the last time I was in her pub had anything to do with it.
Gil said the photo is no longer there, but if I remember rightly, it was situated just above pictures of Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Desmond Tutu.
I think they weren’t as high up as they didn’t pop into the pub as much as he did.
What I didn’t tell Gil is that one memory of her pub is from one gorgeous summer afternoon when I was sitting in the picturesque beer garden which runs down to the River Ure. We were on the last leg of a pub crawl around the Yorkshire Dales.
One of the group was an SAS veteran who it would be fair to describe as “larger than life”.
He disappeared inside the pub, emerged with a stapler which he tested on the wooden pub table we were sitting around and then proceeded to staple his forehead.
As the rest of us stared at his bleeding temple in disbelief, he handed me the stapler and said: “Right, now it’s your turn.”
I asked whether I could just down a pint instead.
My beer garden day dreaming was cut short when I was tapped on the back by someone who looked like a young farmer who requested that I finish my pint of Black Sheep.
He and some friends were “feeding” a beer snake made up of plastic pint glasses which they were carrying around the bar.
Anyone who has been to a Test Match at Headingley will have seen a beer snake.
Although, unlike at Headingley, they appear to take a very relaxed approach to such stunts at the show.
It was back to the Welcome to Yorkshire stand for their evening barbecue when Sir Gary, or Big V as I used to call him before he got his knighthood, was hosting the great and the good of the county – including business people, TV presenters, sports stars and the like.
The BBQ was sponsored by law firm Irwin Mitchell and it is always good to catch up with John Flathers and Rob Cowling from the firm.
Welcome to Yorkshire supremo Sir Gary gave the great and the good in the audience a mention in his speech, each gaining a round of applause from fellow guests.
He then threw in my name right at the end.
No, I’m not sure why either, but it was a nice plug.
He later said to me: “Did you like your mention, Parky? You even got a round of applause!”
I asked whether if only one person claps it counts as a round of applause?
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IT was nice to bump into David Humphreys at the Great Yorkshire Show.
Anyone who sends me an email saying he enjoys this blog is all right in my book.
David is a former bank manager who now runs the North Bay Railway in Scarborough and an engineering company that builds and restores steam locomotives.
He was on the Welcome to Yorkshire stand, displaying his new locomotive, built this year and based on an 85-year-old steam engine.
I’ve always fancied myself as a modern day Casey Jones, so I’ll be making a trip over to the coast to visit the railway.
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ONE of the more unusual stands at the Great Yorkshire Show was promoting the new Playboy Energy Drink.
Representatives from the brand founded by renowned lothario Hugh Hefner were handing out samples to members of Yorkshire’s rural community.
I suppose if it keeps octogenarian Hefner going with his Playboy bunnies then it will be good enough to get farmers up in the morning.
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I CAUGHT the number 36 bus from Leeds to Harrogate the other day.
Don’t scoff, with leather seats, drinks holders, on-board wi-fi and a shelf of books it is a bit like Emirates business class, just without the vintage champagne.
It also boasts recorded announcements by BBC presenter Harry Gration telling passengers what the next stop is and nearby tourist attractions such as Harewood House and Betty’s Tearooms.
Harry is very popular with ladies of a certain vintage, as a conversation between two pensioners sitting in front of me illustrated.
“Ooh, they’ve got him doing the announcements,” said one lady to her travelling companion.
“Who?” she replied.
“You know, him off the telly, Harry Gration.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“Harry Gration? No, he can’t be, he was presenting Look North last night.”
“Oh, I was thinking of Larry Grayson, that one that used to present The Generation Game.”
Just as I was about to engage with the two ladies about the merits of Isla St Clair over Slack Alice, my stop arrived and I missed the opportunity.
Have a great weekend.