RANDOM AT LARGE

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 13

RANDOM AT LARGE

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Was there a shape of things to come, for the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, in the report of the Hertfordshire County Agricultural Show which appeared in a London newspaper? It said that there were more than 30,000 visitors at the show on the Saturday, and that the show gave townspeople an idea

of what went on “down on the farm” with livestock inspections and a chance to learn to drive a tractor. But the show, the report continued, “included modelling of men’s and women’s clothes, because its nature has changed with a decline

in livestock entries and lack of support by leading agricultural manufacturers.” A grim warning, this. In November, they still turn out in thousands at Addington to match the ice-cream against the nor’wester, but will it always be thus, with our export of primary products likely to lessen, our dependence on tourism to increase?

Better start thinking about it now, Mr Studholme. How about establishing a corps de ballet, an A and P go-go girl troupe? There’ll soon be a few old empty woolsheds jn which they can train. And while you are about

it, replace the pig pens with a little bit of Old Soho; there would be no shortage of patronage there. Modelling of clothes, as at Hertfordshire? To be sure. Prizes for the briefest bikinis. And for those too young to appreciate this entertainment (i.e., those under seven) perhaps a treasure hunt, taking the little devils through the pens and the secretary’s office and the lot? There is a need to move with the times. And the day may dawn when the A and P Show no longer brings Country to Town, but is billed as the Greatest Show on Earth.