Vintage People Pictures of a Traditional Yorkshire Sheep Show

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Farndale Show Gallery #2 – Vintage People Pictures of a Traditional Yorkshire Sheep Show. A black and white reportage photo art series taken in 1989 at the Farndale Agricultural Show in the North Yorks Moors National Park by photographer Paul E Williams

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Vintage People Pictures – Traditional Yorkshire Sheep Show Gallery 2

“I bought a house in the North Yorks Moors in the late 1980’s and commuted the 240 miles there every weekend from my Camden studio in London. It took me some time to work out why North Yorkshire had me in its grip until eventually I realised that it was because North Yorkshire was still like the England I had grown up in which had vanished from the south.

One of the great examples of how little things had changed in the North was, and still is, the local show that occurs in every dale in the North Yorks Moors. I remember an edition of the James Heriot All Creatures Great and Small TV series in which James Heriot, a local vet, unwisely agrees to be a judge at the local show with disastrous results.

Traditional Yorkshire Dale Show

It was with great joy that I visited Farndale Show the 1986 and witnessed the truth behind the Heriot story. Farndale is a small valley famed for its wild daffodils in spring and the local show is a very serious matter as far as the shepherds and contestants who bring their animals to be judged are concerned.

At these shows you will see sheep coiffured with great love and attention fit for a king. You will see the rivalry between competitors only normally witnessed at great sporting events like Wimbledon. You will see the anguish and pained face of a judge who knows that his decision as to the prize winner will make him one friend and a multitude of angry enemies. All of this drama takes place to the wonderful soundscape of a Yorkshire brass band.

A day trip really doesn’t get much better than that. Enjoy”.

Paul E Williams 2023