Roman Wall Show

Affectionately known as the Twicey Show the Roman Wall Show is always held on the second Saturday in June - the first show of the season. Actually that is a lie, there is the Northumberland County Show held on the bank holiday Monday at the end of May but that is a big show, a commercial show, one with crowds of 20,000 plus people - not Shep's sort of show.

Twicey Show is held in a field right beside Hadrian's Wall with a view to kill for, especially on a decent day such as today. It is a true rural show with one of the best turn outs of sheep in this area. A very early show as the majority tend to be held in August and September which means sheep have to be well forward to be in good condition to be shown, a lot of hard work will have gone into them to have them looking their best so close to the past lambing season.

There are classes for all the traditional breeds which are to be found along this stretch of Hadrian's Wall and all these classes are well supported.

The swaledale sheep, a horned, hardy hill breed. The above is the class for a Shearling tup, eleven entries were competing for just three prizes. The male sheep have big strong horns, unlike the females who have finer horns.

Then there are the Blackfaced Sheep, again a hardy hill breed, a heavier carcased sheep than the Swaledale. The above again shows
the male sheep (known as tups or rams) being judged, again they have strong, heavy horns.

The Blue Faced Leicesters shown above are crossed onto the two afore mentioned hill breeds to produce what is known as a mule. The mule is a prolific sheep which is crossed with terminal sires to produce the ultimate fat lamb for the table.

The mule class at the Twicey Show is to be seen to be believed. There are only classes for mule lambs, that being lambs born this year, most of which were born in April. The above class had 35 entries, 35 lambs competing for just three prizes! These lambs are still sucking their mothers - but for this day they left their mothers behind and came to the show to see who is the best - what tales they would have to tell when reunited back at home later in the day!!

Judging at the Twicey Show is not for the faint hearted, the judge who was faced with 35 lambs in the ring eventually whittled them down to a final line up of 10 before letting them away to run loose round the show ring again enabling him to have a look at their finer points and finally chose one which he thought to be the best

The best lamb in that particular class was the eventual overall champion in the mule lamb classes, not only did it beat the other 34 it was competing against in it's class but in all there were 88 lambs entered for all the mule lamb classes, this lamb from Carry House beat 87 of them to be crowned the best of the best - quite an achievement.

Shep had an enjoyable morning at the Twicey Show, having returned from lambing a month back I have had less days off than the number of fingers on one hand, it was grand to be able to enjoy a leisurely day, catch up on the crack (conversation) and see how every ones sheep were doing, find out how tups had bred and generally catch up on folk - some not seen since the back end sheep sales. I had to leave the judging of the sheep before the absolute overall, that being the best of every breed competing to be the best of the show.

Before shooting off from the sheep pens I did just have time to watch the Overall Championship for the Black faced sheep. The above sheep was bred at Shitlington by a Sewingshields sire, sold at Hexham tup sale and now resides in the North Tyne at Redesmouth. As I am writing this it is dawning on me that I have no idea what eventually won the best in show - how amiss is that of me? Added 14th June: The Overall Best of Breed went to the above tup, it beat all the other breeds of sheep on show on the day to be deemed the best at the show.

So why did I have to shoot off from the sheep pens? Well, I had taken it into my head to show old Glen. There was a class for the best looking collie and I decided to take the old fella along. He is well past being fit for the show ring by rights but there is no doubt about it he is a bonny (pretty) dog. I felt he and I needed some time together, just the two of us. There is now a pup in residence at Shep's home, he will be taking over Glens role in a year or two, anyhow, doggie politics is getting a tad wearisome so Glen and I would go to the show alone and make a day of it!

I rushed off from watching the sheep being shown and got the old fella out of the car, dismayed to find his face was swelling........ I sought advice from a well respected dog handler who said not to worry about such things, Glen was given a quick brush up which only loosened his winter coat and made him shed hairs on piece - life wasn't looking too good! There were six entries in the class and fortunately we walked around the ring in a direction which hid Glens swollen face

To my utmost amazement he won, the judge deemed him the best looking collie dog on the day and the red rosette was his - not at all bad for a ten year old dog with a face which was starting to swell, I'm sure the £6 prize money will go some way towards vets bills!!

The remainder of the afternoon saw Glen and I sitting quietly whilst watching the Cumberland wrestling

Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling can be enjoyed at quite a few of the shows in the area, Bellingham Show included. I know little of the sport for all I have watched it for years, I do know that the hands have to be locked together all the time and that the first to touch the ground is the loser.

In my youth I always fancied having a go, now I'm older and wiser I think the ground looks hard and it's highly probable it might hurt if you're the first to hit it. Unfortunately I can't remember the names of the above wrestlers but the lad in black is the 11 stone champion and the lad in traditional costume is the 12 stone champion, they put on a good show for the many watching and took the match to the best of three with the winner being the lad in traditional costume seen above winning a fall.

The day came to a close, Twicey Show is over for another year. Glen and I trundled home, weary but happy, both having enjoyed a day off, a spot of socialising and quality time together.