Furrowing the leader!

A TOTAL of 29 people competed in the 134th annual Henley and District Agricultural Association’s ploughing match on Sunday.

Spectators at Red Lion Farm in Britwell Salome enjoyed watching participants compete in categories including match, conventional and reversible ploughs.

There were additional categories for those operating vintage tractors, Fergusons, young ploughmen and Young Farmers’ Club members.

Competitors had between
20 minutes and four hours to finish, depending on the category, and were judged on the seedbed, firmness and uniformity of plots.

The event featured a traditional blessing of the plough by Rev Angie Paterson, a variety of food and drink vendors, stalls, a dog show, tractor rides around the farm and ice cream.

Tony Horler, from Crowmarsh, organised the ploughing plots for the competition.

He said: “The plots have to be parallel with all the pegs.

“Different ploughs have different widths, so you have to compensate for that to make sure they’ve all got the same amount of land. The main thing is making sure they are all parallel.

“It has gone very well today — we have had perfect weather for it. We have given people slightly bigger plots this year so the visitors have something to look at. People like that and it’s educational for them.

“People have been enjoying it. It rained on Friday and that’s soaked through now so it’s probably one of the better ploughing matches for conditions.”

Jack Marcham, 20, a member of the Henley Young Farmers’ Club, was awarded “Best Work by a Young Farmers’ Club Member” and “Best Work by a Young Ploughman aged 17 to 20 on the Day of the Match”.

Mr Marcham, who lives in Woodcote, said: “It’s probably the best job I’ve done so far, I’ve competed for four years. I enjoy seeing lots of people I know and having a go, just seeing what I can do.”

He was supported at the event by fellow members of the club, including Amy Kissenden, also from Woodcote.

Miss Kissenden, 22, said: “I like socialising here with a lot of people I know and this event is keeping the tradition alive.”

She said the group were tired from having completed a
23-mile walk from Goring to Henley the day before, to raise money for Thames Valley Air Ambulance.

“We do a lot of fundraising as a club,” she said. “It’s just a great thing to be a part of and you make new friends.”

Rhi Hayes, 19, from Checkendon, added: “Events like the ploughing match keep the rural community together. It can feel quite isolating sometimes.”

The group took it in turns to run a stand at the event.

Kieran Sellar, 23, from Chalgrove, said: “We’ve had a few people interested and coming up to talk to us, mainly the younger ones who know what we’re doing and what we’re about.

“It’s good for raising awareness. We’ve got a fair few new members this year, we’ve just had our members’ meeting and quite a few turned up.”

Paul and Sara Brook-Nolan, from Banbury, brought their horses Titan, a stallion, and Spartacus, a gelding, to demonstrate the traditional method of ploughing.

The horses are still used in farm work, including pulling timber and ploughing and they compete around the world in ploughing matches. Mr Brook-Nolan said while ploughing with horses is not as expensive as people might think, it is time-consuming.

“It’s the sort of thing you’ve got to have the land and the time for,” he said. “You have to care for them 365 days a year so I’ve never had a holiday since I’ve had horses.”

Mr Brook-Nolan said that, without younger people taking an interest in ploughing with horses, he believes the convention will die out within his lifetime.

He said: “Because it’s so time-consuming, there’s now nobody new coming into it. It’s usually the sons and the grandsons of those who have done it for years.

“It needs new people who haven’t done it before to get into it, and that’s not really happening.”

Phil Butler, from Didcot, competed in the open class for conventional ploughs with his 1961 Massey Ferguson.

He said: “It was very good. It was a bit wet and damp and so it turned over quite well.

“It’s more of a hobby than anything, we enter the matches when the harvest is done to give it a go and come and enjoy ourselves. I used to work in a farm so it’s in my blood.”

Jim Walton, from Amersham, competed in the vintage class with this 1947 Bristol 10, which has an Austin 10 petrol engine.

He said: “It could’ve been better but I’ve done worse. The conditions were a bit sticky but I enjoyed it.”

Jo Taylor, manager of the Henley and District Agricultural Association, said: “I thought it was a really great day, people were really enjoying themselves.

“The fierce winds and the weather might have put people off but it didn’t. Lots of people said what a lovely time they were having.

“Competitors really like our ploughing match. I think people do find it friendly and it’s a nice atmosphere.”

She added: “The field next to it, kindly lent to us by the Mearns family and Mary Roadnight, is lovely and the view is spectacular.”