Spring Working 2010
The Annual Spring Working this year was held on Sunday April 25th at Holdens Farm near East Knoyle. As always, this was a relaxed and friendly event with no competetive element, ideal for getting older horses back into towrk and introducing younger horses to a public event. We were very lucky with the weather for the time of year, with a mostly sunny day that only turned to rain at the very end, during the final line-up. Implements out on the plot included chain harrows, ploughs, a roller, a seed drill and a muck spreader. Our thanks to all the horsemen and horsewomen who attended, to the stewards and site marshalls, those manning the refreshments, sales and wagon rides, and to the Doggrells for allowing us the use of the site.
2010 AGM and Dinner
The Society's Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 13th February at The Olive Bowl, Gillingham, Dorset, starting at 6pm, and was followed by the Annual Dinner. The AGM itself ran with remarkable prompness- perhaps spurred by the thoughts of food to follow? The food and the company was, as always, excellent. Many thanks to all who attended, we hope everybody enjoyed themselves as much as they seemed to.
Annual Ploughing Match 2009: Cancelled
As announced on the front page of this website, the 3rd Annual Ploughing Match was cancelled due to bad weather. Our thanks to Mr. and Mrs. T. Rossiter and Mr. and Mrs. J. Hedges for having allowed us the use of the site.
Annual Show 2009
Show day was Sunday 27th September, and for the second year in the row, the weather was perfect. Entries were up on last year, with some seventy horses entered and few withdrawn on the day, and classes continued almost without a break from 9:30 in the morning until well after 5:00 in the afternoon. Enormous thanks must go to our judges for this Herculean task! We were glad to welcome the vintage vehicles back to our display ring, which also saw the return of Adam's Axe Men and the Pippin Riding School Musical Ride, along with a sheepdog display and, for the first year, a display of carriage driving by our Chairman, Colin Horler
Click here to view the results.
Annual Spring Working 2009
This years' Spring Working was held on Sunday 26th April, off the A350 near the Hindon turning. Events got off to something of a late start, but the weather was kind, and there were some new faces among the horsepeople (and horses) which was good to see.
Annual Dinner 2008
The society's well attended Annual Dinner was held on Saturday 22nd November. As in recent years, the venue was the Olive Bowl in Gillingham, amid early Christmas decorations. The dinner included the usual raffle, plus a slide display of photographs from the year's events, as well as a silent preview of 'The Wessex Way', a new DVD of the events and activities of the Society and its members during the past year.
Annual Ploughing Match 2008
The torrential rain the day before did not bode well for the Society's second annual Ploughing Match, but Sunday's weather was fortunately clear though brisk (read: freezing in the wind!). We had a fantastic number of entries- fourteen pairs and a single including shires, suffolks, percherons, comtois and cobs. Our thanks to everyone for turning out for the event. The sodden ground underfoot made the match hard work for the entrants, who nevertheless completed the match with alacrity, with refreshments consumed, judging completed and prizes presented all before 4pm!
Annual Show 2008
The 2008 Annual Show was held on Sunday 28th September, on the Gillingham and Shaftesbury (Turnpike) Showground. This we we could not have asked for better weather- after early fog, it turned into a beautiful sunny day, and the crowds came out to watch. There was a packed line-up for the day: all the usual Heavy Horse classes including In Hand, Harness and Turnout, as well as a Ridden class and of course the West of England In Hand and Harness Championships. The vintage vehicles filled the arena with everything from busses to sports cars; the Pippin Riding School's musical ride was delightful to watch, and the return of the Heavy Horse Tug of war provided an entertaining spectacle.
The Society would like to apologise for those who visited a different website- not one under our control and not one to which we sent our details this year- which incorrectly advertised the show.
Click here to view the results available online so far.
Annual Spring Working 2008
The popular Annual Spring Working was held on Sunday 20th April. This was as always a nice, relaxed event and a good opportunity for horsemen and horsewomen to introduce young horses to a working event, or to try something new with their horses under the eyes of experienced horsepeople.