15/07/13….Early signs positive for the future of Thame Show

AFTER an absence of two years, the Thame Show returned on Saturday, and thousands of people flocked to the Show Ground in hot sunshine to experience farming pursuits, some great arena entertainment, local food and drink and the ever-popular Domestic Classes competitions.

Although the autumn Chrysanthemums and harvest vegetables like carrots, parsnips and autumn fruits were missing as the show had moved from September to July, there were soft fruits and plenty of other alternatives to produce a good showing of the love attention of local, amateur growers and the competition was as hot as ever.

From children, the popular ?garden on a plate? produced some very imaginative entries and the standard of entries in the Photography competition, judged by the Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert (himself a professional photographer), was higher than ever.

Panting in the heat, but being very carefully looked after by their owners, the Rabbit classes attracted a lot of attention and the caged birds too made a very attractive, if slightly sad, spectacle. Row of jams and lemon curd, always a very popular part of Thame Show, stood in glistening rows opposite dozens and dozens of scones, fruit cakes and Victoria sponges, many alongside their red, blue and yellow winners? cards eagerly sought by their makers once the judging was over.

The extra toilet facilities spread around the grounds this year, and more shaded seating, were much appreciated by the hot visitors.

Theme?s MP, John Howell, visited the Show as the guest of the President of the Show, Mrs Desmond Heyward, for lunch and afterwards toured the Show to see what was happening. He said: ?It was good to see Thame Show back in operation again. I hope that the Show had as many visitors as it needed to make it a financial success. It deserved to. It was a fantastic day out.?

The show organisers have not released any visitor numbers or details of whether the show has been a financial success yet, but judging by the mostly favourable comments being made by the happy families leaving at the end of the afternoon, it seems on the face of it that Thame Show is back to stay.