Fillongley Agricultural Society Poultry Show 2015

After last year’s deluge, courtesy of Hurricane Bertha, fingers were tightly crossed for fine weather and we were not disappointed. Show day arrived bright and fair. A continuous stream of visitors soon filled the car park and the site was buzzing.

A new layout of the show ground this year placed the poultry tent next to the entrance gate with the pigs, cattle and sheep and this proved to be a great improvement as it was easier to find for the visitors. The local BBC radio station presented their morning show from the show ground and spent a lot of time in the poultry tent before and after judging.

Radio Coventry in action inside the poultry tent.

Poultry entries were the highest in the five years since the poultry show has been revived and included breeds of birds not previously shown and with entrants from as far as Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire and Essex as well as local ‘back yard’ enthusiasts.

Judge Huw Evans was impressed.

This year’s judge, Mr Huw Evans, was impressed by the number and quality of birds, finally giving Best in Show to Mr Chris Woolley for his Light Sussex, with Best Waterfowl and Reserve Champion going to Mr Malcolm Hicks.  Master William Hicks won Best Juvenile and is someone to watch out for in the coming years.

Egg classes were also well supported and the judges, Mr Peter Hunt and Mr James Wheeler, eventually chose Ms Mollie Green for Best Eggs in Show with the Best Juvenile trophy going to Megan Rogers.

Egg Classes were well supported. Peter Hunt Judging Eggs with assistance from a Steward.

Sale pens were reintroduced again this year and were successful, with many hoping to bring birds along to sell next year, especially as the tent attracted so many visitors throughout the day.  Rupert Stephenson was kept busy taking photographs of birds for the entrants, magazines, and websites.

Allen and Page had a representative inside the marquee giving feed advice and outside the entrance was a display of ducks from the quack pack, who were also the main ring attraction, herding ducks with sheepdogs and the British hen welfare trust were busy all day encouraging people to take up poultry keeping, hopefully some will become future exhibitors in time.

Everyone agreed the new show layout and the glorious weather made it a great day out for young and old.

As usual, next year’s show will be held on the second Sunday in August. We recommend the Fillongley Agricultural Society website and Facebook page for information on classes, membership, sponsorship and photographs of the day.

Photos

All photos are provided courtesy of poultry photographer Rupert Stephenson and Blanche.

Results