I’ve not had a lot of time to write recently. There have been lots of navigational adventures of Dora the Explorer (me) and the orange rucksack, two drop offs at University to undertake, a call up for the running club ladies team for next Saturday’s 2023 British Fell Running Relay Championships (wish me luck because I’ll need it and I’m getting very nervous), and a PB and 2nd place V50 female this last weekend in the Lake District at the Ullswater 10k (which turned out to be 11.5k!). Oh, and not to forget my full time job Monday to Friday. I’ve just had an hour chilling with my latest book – ‘Red Comet – The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath’ – its quite a sad book and I don’t often read biographies but I was intrigued as to why Sylvia Plath was buried in a very simple grave in a Yorkshire churchyard near me. I’m also currently sat staring at a roll of 20 metres of fabric which I’m supposed to be transforming into two full length pairs of curtains after having the decorator in last week (I love making soft furnishings), but I have not the faintest clue when I’m going to find time to make them. I’ve now got to pack my little carry on case ready for immediately after the British fell running championships when I’m disappearing off to Lisbon and Porto to indulge in port, sardines and pastel de nata as I need a little break. And then I promise I’ll do a review of Lisbon/Porto and tell you all about the adventures of the last few weeks.
So this is a quick post on something I saw the other weekend which really literally made me laugh out loud. It concerns two of my favourite things…….the annual village agricultural show, which I need to share with you as it’s fantastic, and my beloved Yorkshire!
You might not find it that funny at all, in fact some of you might be highly offended by it. Now, a disclaimer, I would like to say that any comments made are not the opinions of the myself. I’m a bit of an anything goes, not that easily offended sort of person, who’s happy for everyone to be who they want to be if makes them happy. But this really did make me laugh so much.
Saturday came, and it was the day of the local agricultural show. This is a huge day for the village. It’s in its 150th year and is the biggest local event in the calendar. Invariably it rains, but this year the sun was out and it was glorious so I thought I’d pop along. Two main things feature in the show……..animals and food so it’s a resounding ‘yes’ from me.
Because it’s such an agricultural, rural area where I live the aim of the show is to celebrate local farmers, growers, traditions and culture. Farmers travel from around the country to compete in hundreds of categories. The animals at the show include all sorts of breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. In addition to animals, there are sheep dog handling competitions, craft tents showcasing local handywork like knitting, needlework, beekeeping and baking. There are local games and sports, and in addition to the animals, perhaps the biggest draw for many are the vegetable and cut flower growing championships. There are hundreds of prizes to be won and thousands of people descend on the village to attend.
It’s easily a full day out and I like it because you can walk around all the tents and talk and pet all the animals. I like to watch the cattle judging ……….they take it very seriously! There’s show jumping, sheep sheering……you name it, it’s there.
In addition to being able to pet all the animals, there’s lots of local food to eat too (after disinfecting my hands of course!). Where else can I pet the animals, have a ride on a real tractor, eat ice cream, drink cider, eat delicious local lamb and have a milkshake made with local milk! I did feel a bit sick after all that but I’m blaming that on the tractor. Oh and don’t forget the brass band tent (another Yorkshire thing)……….see if you can guess the tune!
All in all a lovely day. It all got too much for Wendy the pig who fell to sleep in her pen (thankfully after judging) and by the end of it I was pretty exhausted too.
But the thing that made me laugh, well………..here goes, I’ll tell you what it was. Down South they think of us Northerners as being a bit odd. Perhaps a little bit provincial and stuck in a world gone by. On a UK map I viewed recently, which had been re-labelled as a joke, Yorkshire had been relabelled ‘depressing shithole full of people who own ferrets’. Now hang on a minute………..I beg to differ! I think it’s just a misunderstanding…………and it’s funny that Yorkshire is full of Southerners on holiday in the summer! Hopefully, from my previous posts, you will see that Yorkshire is not a ‘shithole’, it’s actually quite beautiful. I don’t own a ferret, and I think I’m quite ‘with it’, not stuck in a world gone by. However, I have a confession to make………….I did spend 5 years in my 20’s living on the ‘dark side’ just outside London as an adopted Southerner. I have never been allowed to forget this fact, and I don’t think I will ever fully be accepted back into the fold and totally forgiven by my Yorkshire kin for my temporary defection.
Anyway, my observation at the show does go a little way to supporting that Southern view that Northerners are stuck in their ways and are a little bit provincial. We’ve not quite moved into the area of equality of the sexes in Yorkshire. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not fully there myself. I am a bit of a traditionalist…….give me a gentleman any day that tells you you look nice, opens a door for you and pulls your chair out when he takes you to dinner. By the way, don’t come to Yorkshire if you are looking for one of those though, they are not the typical traits of the Yorkshireman. And I’m more than happy to do the domestic ‘looking after’. I am very much a looker afterer and a feeder of all that walk through my door. However, what I spied at the show did well and truly convince me that we’ve not moved on that much from the 19th century in Yorkshire when it comes to equality and gender. You can see why the Southerners think we are stuck in a bygone age. The grand Victoria Sandwich cake ‘bake off’ competition at the show was quite clearly labelled ‘Women Only’. Yes, we are still segregating by gender in Yorkshire and at first glance I thought we were only allowing women to enter the baking competition! 😂
So I’m sorry all you gents out there who think you can bake a mean Victoria Sandwich…….you are not allowed to enter this competition because only women bake Victoria Sandwich cakes in Yorkshire. I looked……..and I looked again…….surely it can’t say that I thought, as I literally laughed out loud. But it did! It didn’t sit quite right with me. So what are we saying ladies……. men can’t bake, they bake differently, or they bake better and we don’t want the competition. Then, someone pointed out to me that there was a separate Victoria Sandwich competition around the other side of the table for the men!
So I went and had a little look and there it was, clearly labelled ‘Men Only’. Now being part Southerner I know that really women and men should not be segregated in competition unless one will have clear advantage over the other in terms of physical strength, stamina and physique. But I’m not sure where that comes in in the baking of a Victoria Sandwich. Is the advantage in the beating of the butter with the sugar, the adding of the eggs or what ?!?
Anyway, after undertaking my own bit of judging, I’m not sure what you think from the photos but I have to say that for me the men won hands down. The entries from the ladies were not well done enough for me and looked a bit thin. The men’s looked much more robust, golden brown with a lovely dusting of icing sugar on the top. So well done Yorkshire men of Penistone, I think the ladies are just scared of the competition. Now for anyone that does not identify as man or women I have absolutely no idea which competition you enter. It may be a few years before we catch up with the rest of the world in terms of gender equality so you may have to settle for an entry in the ‘Create a Vegetable Character’ or ‘Mr Potato Head’ competition as that’s a free for all and not segregated by gender. Still, after looking at the entries for that I’m not sure that one is fair either, I think the ‘Gruffalo’ was robbed of first place.
So there you have it, your guide to the local agricultural show and gender equality in Yorkshire. An excellent day out. I’m generally usually proud to be a Yorkshire girl but sometimes I do have to have a little laugh and a cringe with embarrassment and disbelief at Yorkshireness and this was one of those moments!
