Oldest shearing competitor

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 41

Oldest shearing competitor

Probably the oldest competitor in the blade shearing competitions at the Canterbury show on Friday will be Dick Peny, who used to run a shearing gang from Rangiora. Sixty-four-year-old Perry last competed at the Canterbury show in 1980, but has decided to make a come-back this year to cele-

brate 25 years since the show first hosted blade shearing events. The main event on Friday will be the New Zealand Open Blade Shearing Championship, carrying total prize money of over $lOOO. Although Perry has never won the championship, he has been runner-up twice

and has rarely failed to make the final. He admits he has little chance of taking the title this year, but is equally confident that he will not be outclassed. “I won’t disgrace myself by any means,” said Perry who can still tally 150 sheep a day. Perry stopped contracting

in 1980, but still does casual shearing. He finished fourth in 1959 in the first blade shearing contest at the Canterbury show, and improved to third in 1960. The competition was held in conjunction with the Golden Shears in Masterton the next year, but returned to Christchurch in 1962 when Perry was again third. The competition was held in Ashburton for one year before returning to the Canterbury show. Perry tied with Les Richards for top honours in 1965, but lost in the shear-off. Until 1966, the sheep in the competition were Corriedale or Halfbreds, but in 1966 and 1967 Merino wethers were shorn, Perry finishing second in 1967. Perry started blade shearing in 1935, working in sheds in the Mackenzie Country and over most of North Canterbury. His sheds included Teviotdale, Glens of Tekoa, Lochiel, Lake Taylor, Cloudy Range and, at one stage, Glenfalloch, Lake Heron and Cleardale in the Rakaia Gorge. The blade shearing season in those days lasted from June to late January. As well as organising the gang, Perry was a full-time ’shearer and regularly shore 140 to 160 sheep a day, and in the early 19705, when blade shearers were scarce, he tallied an estimated 25,000 sheep in a season.