Plenty on offer at Walls Show
Keegan Murray
Like Voe the weekend before today’s Walls Show kicked off in less than favourable conditions.
Intermittent but heavy showers made it occasionally necessary to dart for cover in the nearest tent, but this did not dissuade hundreds of punters from attending one of the biggest events in the West Side’s calendar.
There was an increase in entries for both the cattle and pony sections, with a strong showing in the sheep and poultry sections also. There were even a few goats too.
Away from the livestock there was plenty to see with the usual dairy, field and garden produce sections, flowers, baking, knitting and some striking arts and crafts. A small selection of classic cars also adorned the show field, making up for the lack of a traditional ‘vintage Sunday’ at this year’s show.
And despite being smaller in scale than its relatives in Cunningsburgh and Voe the standard of entry was no less impressive.
Cattle judge Maynard Love extolled the quality of animal on display, saying that there were “some tough decisions” to be made in deciding the victors.
He said: “The quality is excellent, I’ve been amazed at how good they were. There’s an old saying they have in Shetland that has been true today – west is best.”
Eventually winning overall cattle was 13-year-old Erin Ridland, from Westerskeld, whose five-year-old Simmental impressed the judges.
Erin’s father, show president Stuart Ridland, said it was important to “keep the bairns interested” and to continue growing what is “one of the big events that we have in the community”.
Other big winners on the day included Duncan Anderson, who bagged overall sheep champion for two Shetland cross Cheviot gimmers, and Bjorn Larsen, who enjoyed success in the pony section.
• For more, including full results from today’s show, see next week’s edition of The Shetland Times.
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