South of England Show, 10th - 12th June 2010

01 July 2010

The Handmade Shoes (UK) Ltd South of England Show 2010 had record entries - three days of six fires continually in use with up to seven rounds a day caused the organisers Sarah Hayter, Tim Fieldwick (Chief Steward) & Chris Perrot (Time Keeper & Steward) some heart stopping moments! Prior to the competition some fires and fans were malfunctioning and anvils were missing but thanks to G.W Day, Jim Hayter, Steven Fisher and Chris Perrot by 7am on the first day it was all systems go.
 
The competition ran in the heart of Sussex at one of the largest county shows, the South of England. The first day began with the Open Shoemaking with judge, Gavin Golby, setting the task of asking competitors to make a deep seated bar shoe and a hind cob beval shoe. Marks were spread across the board, with the highest score being for the cob beval shoe gaining 9.1 by class winner Ben Casserly who finished on a total Open Shoemaking score of 17.0, winning a Handmade Shoes Vice and Stand, just ahead of Dave Smith who finished on a total score of 16.5. George Hutchins scored a superb 9.2 for his deep seated bar shoe, but unfortunately couldn’t keep up the standard for both shoes.
 
Thursday also saw the Open Pony Shoeing class being won by last year’s judge Jay Tovey, with Dave Smith in second place. Third place went to Ricky Hilton - all receiving tools from Handmade Shoes Ltd.
 
The William Hayter Perpetual trophy was awarded in an emotionally charged presentation by Mrs Jenny Hayter to her son James who was also awarded a beautiful pair of Roadster Cufflinks, very kindly donated by Anvil Jewellery / Handmade Shoes. James has always wanted to win his late Father’s Cup for the Open Roadster class with the highest mark for fit - with a score of 8.9 - he finished on a total score of 42.4, just ahead of 3rd year apprentice Jack Casserly who is definitely one to watch for the future.
 
Jay Tovey finished the Open Hunter class with an impressive score of 44.1 just ahead of Andrew Casserly. Nigel Fennell scored an impressive 9.1 for his nail and finish to clinch third place.
 
The 3rd & 4th Year class was won on equal marks between Jack Casserly and Dan Preece - both finishing on a score of 17.5 - with first place eventually being awarded to Jack who actually had the higher mark of 9.0 for his specimen shoe.
 
Apprentice James Elliot will have made his boss  Billy Crothers proud of him after finishing just outside the placings in the Open Shoemaking and taking home a well deserved win in the 1st & 2nd Year class, closely followed by Jack Henty who is trained by ATF Jim Hayter.
 
Gavin Golby told Open Competitors “he was very impressed with the high level of shoemaking and that he had been pleased with the trimming, nailing and finish he had been judging over the three days”.
 
The prize giving was well attended with Wayne Upton AFCL from the Worshipful Company of Farriers presenting silver & bronze medals to those that had attained the very standard demanded by the Company.

Once again the South of England Show would like to thank Handmade Shoes (UK) Ltd for their continual support of this competition - for which they have now been sole sponsor of for the last four years. They very generously donated in excess of £3,000.00 worth of prizes to the 2010 competition and without companies such as Handmade Shoes it would be very hard to run these competitions.