Suffolk Show 2008

The 2008 Suffolk Show was a great success! This two-day event seems to get bigger and better each year.

The Duchess of Gloucester arrived mid morning to be greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, Lord Tollemache, and Chief Constable Simon Ash. She was dressed in a beige linen jacket and patterned skirt. The Duchess was introduced to a host of dignitaries including leading members of the Suffolk Agricultural Association before presenting prizes to the young winners of the Suffolk Schools' Competition.

The Duchess of Gloucester is a member of the British Royal Family, the wife of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a grandchild of George V. She and her husband reside at Kensington Palace in London - birthplace and childhood home of Queen Victoria.

The second day of the show began in sunshine and attracted even higher numbers of visitors than the day before. The trade stands also offered plenty to keep the crowds busy with 100 additional exhibitors to this year's event, bringing the total to 700.

The film below gives a quirky flavour of this popular agricultural event in Suffolk and includes entertainment by Winston the 'singing farmer', views of the farming equipment displays, equestrian events and activities for the children too! Fellow exhibitors with the Rural Crafts Association are featured (along with Ron on the piano of course) and there is even a glimpse of our fine silver and gold jewellery too under the watchful eye of Wendy! Those wanting to have a closer look at our popular silver daisy jewellery, or our new silver and gold jewellery designs, should log onto:

www.daisyjewellery.co.uk

Once again my son, Dani and his group 'Razorblade Oscilloscope' have provided the background music.

Art, Design & Innovation at Hatfield House

After a successful show last year we were pleased to return to 'Hatfield House' to present our new silver and gold jewellery designs at the 'Art, Design & Innovation Show' mounted by Living Crafts.

This is the largest show of its kind in Europe, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year and is an event not to be missed. Literally hundreds of craftsmen and women from all corners of the British Isles come to show their work.

The Living Crafts show has traditionally been held on parkland in front of the grand stately home known as 'Hatfield House' – a beautiful setting. This year we moved to a new purpose built area just a couple of minutes walk away from the main house which enabled us to take all the elements of this superb event and rearrange them to give the best possible experience! The additional space allowed us to provide the widest ever variety of lectures, hands-on workshops, spectacular demonstrations and outdoor entertainment for all ages.

Some of the featured events and workshops are listed below and the weekend proved to be a great success:

- 'Painting with light' experience
- Collagraph print workshop
- Drawing masterclasses
- Pyrography workshop
- Wildlife artists' workshop
- Jewellery making studio
- Watercolour lectures
- Working ceramics studio
- Pottery workshops

Opportunities were made available for visitors to participate in the following activities gaining valuable hands on experience:

- Silk painting
- Raku firing
- Willow weaving
- Using a potters wheel

There were also interesting talks on Nelson & the craftwork on HMS Victory, how to glaze your own pottery, upholstery demonstrations, glassblowing demonstrations, costume design workshops for children and talks and workshops on puppetry.

Hatfield House and its beautiful West Garden were only a short walk away and admission to the famous West Garden was included with the entrance ticket to the show. In these beautiful surroundings close to the Old Palace, childhood home to Elizabeth I, visitors enjoyed the 17th Century scented garden, the herb garden and the knot garden. The adjoining wilderness areas were certainly at their best during this year's Living Crafts show with masses of naturalized daffodils in brilliant sunshine throughout the entire weekend!

Badminton Horse Trials 2008

"Badminton" takes place in May each year in the park of Badminton House the seat of the Dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire. The event started in 1949 and the current course designer and director is Hugh Thomas.

The cross country day at Badminton attracts crowds of up to a quarter of a million, which are the largest for any paid-entry sport event in the United Kingdom.

This year's event took place from 1 - 4 May and once again we were there with a fabulous display of silver and gold jewellery. For the past 15 years we have been promoting our individual jewellery designs within the popular 'Rural Crafts Association' shopping marquee. We have established a strong following at Badminton and we thank our regular customers who made a point of seeing us again this year!

Nicolas Touzaint, who regained the European Championship from Zara Phillips last year, yesterday became the first Frenchman to win the Mitsubishi Badminton International Horse Trials.

Touzaint, riding 'Hildago de l'Ile', was ninth after the dressage but took the lead in Saturday's terrific cross-country, and managed to hold off Lucy Wiegersma on Shaabrak in yesterday's show jumping, both of them having one fence down. For British rider Lucy Wiegersma and Shaabrak it was so close. A clear show-jumping round would have brought her victory. It was not to be. Third place went to William Fox-Pitt's 'Ballincoola'.

The French National Anthem was played at Badminton for the first time. "I never for one moment imagined I could win" said Nicolas. "Many have doubted this horse but this shows she is a true Champion."