West of Scotland Area

 

Upcoming Events

 

 

Event Reviews

BDS WEST OF SCOTLAND
SECOND QUARTER, 2011

 

The showing season started very early with Kilmaurs Show in mid April, hotly followed by Dundonald Show (the latter an OR qualifier) at the end of the month.  Both shows were quite well attended and the weather was fairly kind to us (tho windy at Dundonald, so posh hats blew off very readily!).

 

Ayr County Show was held in mid-May and is the only show now in the West which has a Concours d’Elegance class.  Largs show was our final West area agricultural show with driving classes, and we took time to remember John Hendry who was a great supporter of Largs Show and left a bequest to the show to provide sponsorship of this year’s classes - we are indebted to John’s family in his memory.

 

Show reports and placings can be found on the website


Our first pleasure drive was at Barskimming Estate in April, by kind courtesy of the Hon Misses Galbraith who provided a lovely tea afterwards and it was a real treat to have such a warm sunny Sunday afternoon to sit in their garden and chat over yummy cakes & scones.  Miss Jean had had a new track cleared within the estate and the views afforded over Ayrshire were wonderful – though  I only got to see this from the car when marking the route, as I am without a turnout for the present, so was envious of the whips & grooms who got to drive the new path.


The next drive was kindly organized by Jean Wren and hosted by Mugs Montgomery, for another favourite Ayrshire drive where the weather held out just long enough till we all crowded in the back of my lorry for a quick bite of supper before heading home.


We were invited once more by Culzean Country Park to provide main arena demonstrations for their Celebrate Ayrshire day.  Despite the very damp start to the day, and the sun not coming out till well after lunchtime, Culzean reported their visitor numbers up on last year.  Many thanks again to all the BDS West members and friends who brought turnouts, ranging from very little (coloured Shetland, Leo) to the somewhat larger (coloured cob, Thumper) all of whom attracted attention from the visitors.  Back-step rides were offered for a “taste and see” to several people to find out what it’s like to travel on a horse-drawn vehicle and everyone came off with a big grin on their face, so hopefully we may see some of them taking up the sport in the future.
Grand finale for mid-summer was the Royal Highland Show near Edinburgh.  Sadly entries were down compared with last year but the Reserve Championship came back to the West, awarded this year to Gillian McNinch with Churchwood Country Rose.


We look forward to the second half of the driving season, and especially to seeing the junior whips consolidating on their successes so far – it’s just such a treat to see them growing in number and taking home the ribbons to boot.

 



Please send any additions or corrections to: Alan Miller