IN spite of the weather forecast, or perhaps in defiance of the gods of the weather, there were still one or two hardy souls at the shows this weekend in shorts. The more sensible were in full winter gear, with boots and waterproofs, and as the showers blew in from the coast, umbrellas, too, were unfurled at intervals during the day.

I was at the northern edge of the Gazette territory, and not really expecting to meet many people I knew. But, once again, I got it wrong. At Lealholme, in the Esk valley, I arrived just in time for the judging at what is just a produce show, combined with sports in the afternoon for the local children, and immediately met some regular readers who all had comments to make about the paper, most of them good.

At Lealholme, the exhibits are what is known as the 'industrial section' in the bigger shows, and are all local produce grown by farmers and gardeners from the local area, with the addition of some very good children's classes, as well as a number of very good photographs and art work. The standards were high, and competition keen, which is the situation at all the shows I have been to this year.

In the farmers' classes, the two judges were having a very serious discussion about the merits of a sample of silage as compared with a nice sample of hay, and I was pleased to hear that the silage won the day. This would have been my first choice too, but then I feed silage to my stock and am slightly biased.

This is a nice little show which has been running 81 years, and for 40 of those years, they have kept the same treasurer. This is a great record.

There was sunshine as I left Lealholme and drove up the valley to Kildale but, by dinner time, the weather was taking a turn for the worse and nasty showers, blown about by a blustery wind, were sweeping over the valley making the work at the sheep dog trials rather difficult.

But water-proofs and hardy constitutions meant that the trials were going on and luck would certainly have a bearing on the results. The shepherds won't admit this, but there are both dogs and people who would rather work in the sunshine and some sheep can be difficult to handle in bad weather.

On the show ground, sheep and ponies were the main livestock attraction, with many of the same contestants as last week, hoping to persuade today's judge that their stock was the best.

Also on the field, there was a very good display of old tractors and machinery, all of which had been beautifully restored and painted and polished until they looked like new.

In the big marquee, the food and vegetables, along with the other produce, presented a wonderful display and, again, there was a display of art and photographs which suggested that there is lots of talent in the country around Kildale. In the craft tent, there was a remarkable display of craftwork for sale but the miserable weather seems to dampen people's enthusiasm and sales seemed to be difficult to pull off.