Links to pages in the Place Guide

The 2002 – 156th Islay Show was held as usual on the Show Field in Whin Park Bridgend on the traditional second Thursday in August (the 8th this year). From my point of view it was a great relief after the disaster of foot and mouth in 2001. As you can see the day was cloudy but thankfully dry. The Islay Pipe Band were there too as you can see in this picture.

The weather over this summer has been dreadful, barely two consecutive days without rain so it was a great relief when this day was dry and clear. I should say now I was at the show for three hours and missed most of the adjudication so if anyone can put in a bit of detail about the beasts shown I would be grateful.

As usual all these images will lead to a larger picture if you click on them.

The canceling of the show in that year meant the year seemed somehow incomplete, especially since for pupils and teachers it heralds the return to work and the arrival of the SQA results on the doormats. This year the show was relatively early and I missed all the "What did you get" discussion, the congratulations and commiseration.

I was experimenting with the new digital camera an thought this line up of fine calves made a nice picture.

The Islay show has been running almost uninterrupted since 1838. During this time it has built up an impressive collection of silverware as prizes. At present they span two trestle tables with little spare space. It seems as well that new trophies are being added year by year.

In the distance Duffy’s van is used as a platform for announcements and commentary and in the distance.

The show is organised by the Islay, Jura and Colonsay Agricultural Association and is dedicated to "Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Ponies, Goats, Flowers, Dogs and Special Features. One special feature was an amazing demonstration of herding of geese with sheepdogs. The patter was astonishing and I wasn’t able to get close enough to get a picture!

What I know about beasts could be written in very large type on a very small piece of paper but it seemed to me as a true layman that some of these prizewinners were very impressive and I really enjoyed looking at them and getting some images of them.

If the owners of any of the animals on these pages want a copy of the full-sized images, which are 1024×768 pixels nearly a megabyte, they would be very welcome. The images that these pictures lead to are 640×480 and have been optimised to under 100k so a lot of the detail has been lost.

The show is not only about cows though the champion of champions is always a cow. Around the ring are many other animals. This pig with 9 piglets attracted a lot of attention from the crowds an is immortalised in many photographs. I have three pictures of this pig and piglets if anyone wants them. There was also some of the Dunlossit pigs, and I am grateful to the barbecue stall from Dunlossit for three delicious burgers (yes three – how can you choose between pork, venison and sausage?)

The sheep also were very clean and impressive, the sheep in the foreground of the picture, if I remember correctly, were the prize winners though I stand to be corrected on this.

A major and it seems increasing part of the show is the horse and pony section, this year there being 17 categories though some categories had no entrants. This particular prize winning pony (and I do know a bit about horses having owned one for many years) was a very nice looking animal with obvious character.

The flower show as usual was impressive with some spectacular cabbages. Unfortunately at this time I altered the settings of the camera and, due to my unfamiliarity with it all the rest of the pictures are blurred and ruined. Ach well – next year!