Aylsham Show 2023 pageant celebrates 75 years of farming

The pageant at the Bank Holiday Monday event at Blickling featured around two dozen representatives of the charities and community groups which had benefited from money raised by the Aylsham Agricultural Show Association.

The first fundraising Aylsham Fete and Gymkhana on the town’s recreation ground in 1946 attracted 558 visitors and made about £118.

It sowed the seed for what has become one of the country’s largest food, farming and countryside one-day shows and moved to Blickling Park for the first time in 1955.

And the anniversary pageant illustrated the major agricultural changes which have spanned the show's lifetime.

Derek Spanton brought a trade turnout drawn by two Suffolk Punch horses, Charlie and Gifford, while former show president, Phillida Hurn and her granddaughter Izzy Morgan-Evans came on horseback.

The 75th Aylsham Show Pageant. A 1915 horse-drawn sprayer, lent by Sands Agricultural Machinery, pulled by a 1942 John Deere Model B, driven by Robert Jackets, of the Salle estate (Image: Ian Gravenell)

The machinery included a 1942 John Deere from Sir John White’s collection, which was towing an early horse-drawn precision crop sprayer.

It was followed by the latest state-of-the art Norfolk-made Sands Infinity 6000, capable of spraying crops to 2cm accuracy.

The tractors, led by Sir John, of the Salle estate, and his early Case combine harvester, with 8ft header, showed how machinery has helped to boost the nation’s food production over the past 70 years.

A 1952 single-row sugar beet harvester, driven by Tom Randell, of Skeyton, was followed by a giant 635hp Grimme harvester able to lift almost 50 acres in a day and costing about £650,000.

The 75th Aylsham Show Pageant. Sir John White's Case 600 combine, with 8ft header, driven by Will Jones of the Salle estate (Image: Ian Gravenell)

Commentator Simon Evans described the machinery and themes of the pageant, which was devised by former EDP agricultural editor Michael Pollitt and masterminded by last year’s show president Poul Hovesen.

This year' president, Roger Long, said: "It was a tremendous display and thank you to so many enthusiasts and volunteers for their support."

The 75th Aylsham Show Pageant. Derek Spanton's pair of Suffolk Punches, Charlie and Gifford, depicting farming in the 1940s and 1950s (Image: Ian Gravenell)