EVERY YEAR SINCE D-DAY – THEALE SHOW 2024.
A local committee of volunteers has been organising an Annual Flower Show in the village, on the first Saturday in September, since just after D-Day in 1944. When the “Dig for Victory” campaign was announced, Burnett Champney, a local cider maker and land owner, started the Theale Flower and Fruit Show. His wife Flossy provided meals for guests and competition Judges, which they ate with her own best silver service. Archie Gibbs recruited the Burtle Silver Band to march through the village to open the Show. It is our 80th Anniversary.
It is a remarkable community effort by locals every year, notwithstanding storms in 1984 which blew the marquee away, the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997, foot and mouth disease in 2001, and torrential rain in 2008; still known by locals as the Mud Bath Year.
The show provides a showcase for locally grown produce, flowers, arts and crafts, but also draws our rural villages together with a day of fun and activities for the whole family in the Village Hall, and the beautiful orchard gifted to the village by a local resident, Anne Bodley.
This fantastic event has brought together people for generations. The traditional and popular Flower Show has over 120 competition categories for flowers, fruit, local produce, arts, crafts and photography. There will also be a dog show, initiated long ago by Tony Rewston, which always generates enormous interest. Activities for kids this year will include a Fancy Dress Parade and Competition, Pirate Treasure Hunt, face painting, arts, crafts and games. For adults there will be traditional games including a Tug of War, a Human Fruit Machine and much more. Somerset cream teas will be served during the afternoon in the Hall, and Wood Fired Oven baked pizzas available throughout.
The evening events include our ever-popular pop-up Bar – the “Green Man” – and live music from the very talented Joe Strouzer, and the fantastic Swamp Stomp String Band.
It is a fantastic day which does a huge amount to bring our small rural community together. This is particularly important in straightened times, and when the rural economy is under such pressure. In post-Covid times, the cost-of-living crisis, and following widespread flooding, those of us living in the shadow of the beautiful Mendip Hills will really welcome a family day of fun, showcasing our community’s resilience, and displaying the best of our country life in this blessed place.
The Show gates will open to the public for the Children’s Fancy Dress Competition from 2pm, on Saturday 7th September, with the formal Opening at 2.30pm by BBC Radio Somerset’s Claire Carter.