Show gears up for harvest season

THE Autumn Show and Game Fair at the South of England Centre is taking place this weekend.

Attractions range from a carriage driving display to the ever-popular display of hounds with all the colour of the countryside.

Also on show will be the East Grinstead Archery Club, the South East Vintage Agricultural Contractors, the Salmon and Trout Association and the United Retriever Club.

For the Game Fair element of the weekend, visitors and novices will be able to try their hand at clay shooting.

Shooting, hunting, and fishing activities will feature alongside the traditional Autumn Show attractions and there will be 250 retail exhibits as well as horticulture and floral art and trade stands.

Visitors will be entertained by the Band of the Royal Yeomanry, Jonathan Cann's Punch and Judy show and a youth steel band.

Ardingly Parish Church will be holding a harvest festival service on Sunday morning at 10am.

Rev John Crutchley said: "This is a first class idea to celebrate the harvest in this way especially as there is an enduring historical link between churches and farming."

Director of the South of England Agricultural Society, Deborah Barber said: "There really is something for the whole family, no matter what age or interest.

"We are always pleased to see two or three generations of the family coming along together to this celebration of the countryside – that is what it is all about."