Bedhampton Summer Show July 7th

This afternoon saw a surprising number of people at a very wet and muddy Bidbury Mead, with  music being provided by the Portsmouth City Band playing in a marquee.

Portsmouth City Band

Elaine and I first had a go at Bowls on a rather uneven surface and then, after having a look round the stalls, and having a burger, we were invited to take part in judging the children’s Fancy Dress competition. There were six entries, although one entry was two brothers dressed as clowns. The winning entry was a young girl dressed as a flower.

Fancy Dress Winner

We were then treated to coffee and cakes before leaving to prepare for our next engagement.

Unfortunately this meant that we were not able to see the Belly Dancers or the Dog Display.

Despite the weather, everyone seemed to be having an enjoyable time.

Classic car Show July 7th

Today saw the annual Classic Car Show in the precinct at Waterlooville.

Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, the numbers of cars and motorbikes on display were somewhat down on previous years, with 26 Classic cars, 15 American cars plus 8 motorbike and a sole Harley-Davidson.

We spent some time talking to the owners of many of the vehicles, before retreating for a coffee and toasted teacake while trying to decide on the winners of the four categories.

It was difficult to come to a final decision but, in the end, the best Classic car was judged to be a 1928 Austin 16/6 with a Holden body. This car was exported to Australia as a bare chassis, and was then fitted with a body built locally by Holden.

Of the American cars, first place went to a Ford Mustang with gull-wing doors and special paintwork, while the winning motorbike was a 1959 Triton.

The best Harley-Davidson was, of course, the only one there!

Many thanks to all of those participants who braved the weather to come along and show off their pride and joy.

Gull-wing Mustang

1928 Austin 16/6

1959 Triton

DofE Gold Awards July 6th

Yet another event highlighting the finer qualities of the youth of Hampshire, the annual Duke of Edinburgh’s Scheme Gold Award ceremony was held at the Great hall in Winchester.

The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Dame Mary Fagan, presented the certificates to 35 young people who had undertaken the tasks involved in the scheme and had worked their way through the Bronze and Silver standard to reach the final award of the Gold certificate.

As part of their tasks, many of them had worked abroad on humanitarian projects while others had done similar things in this country. On the personal side many had undertaken strenuous challenges, with one young man, Charles Campbell, presenting, during an interval, an illustrated talk on his cycle ride from Land’s End to John O’ Groats via the three highest mountain peaks in the UK!

One family were represented by four sisters, all receiving Gold Awards, while their father received a certificate on attaining the highest level for training scheme participants!

In all there were 95 young people invited to receive their certificates, but many of them were away at University and were unable to attend.

During the first of two intervals we were entertained by a highly talented  group of singers, the Coasters Quartet, from Ditcham Park School.