You might not know her name - but you'll probably have heard
her voice. For many years Christine Moore has been heard at rural
events across the country, as Sarah Todd explains
Public speaking competitions with her Young Farmers' Club armed
Christine Moore with the confidence to become one of the country's
best-known show commentators.
"I was at a private all-girls' school, so diction - or elocution
- lessons were taught," she says, smiling. "But it was the local
young farmers' club and the public speaking I did as a member that
helped me to get my first job commentating."
This was at an indoor showjumping event being organised by
Andrew Fielder, who was then internationally famous for his success
on the back-kicking horse Vibart.
"Somebody had dropped out and Andrew asked me to step in," she
says. "I was still only a teenager and would never have been able
to do it if it hadn't been for the experience I'd had at public
speaking competitions with young farmers."
Christine went on to commentate for the nearby hunt's annual
events, such as the point-to-point race. The rest, as they say, is
history.
Her yearly commentating schedule is far too lengthy to list in
its entirety, but includes the
Royal Highland, the
Great
Yorkshire and
Countryside Live,
Your
Horse Live at Stoneleigh and the National Hunter Show.
She had also had a long association with the
Royal Show, feeling sad
as she switched off her microphone for the last time there this
year. "It was very much the end of an era," she recalls. "My belief
is that identity was one of the Royal's biggest problems.
"When I'm at the Royal Highland, the emphasis is all on the
Scottish, there's such passion for the country and everything it
stands for. It's the same at the Royal Welsh and the Yorkshire.
They're very much about promoting the local. But at the Royal it
seemed to struggle to get across - and get people behind - what it
was about."
Christine also believes some smaller shows have suffered by
trying to be "all things to all men". "Those that have stuck to
their traditional, agricultural roots seem to be thriving," she
reckons.
"I feel that some place too much emphasis on motorbikes jumping
through hoops and other more fun-fair type attractions; sometimes
at the expense of what made them special in the first place."
Christine is from a farming family and agriculture is a subject
she's passionate about.
"First and foremost I was mad about horses," she recalls. "But
after that, my ultimate goal was to live on a farm.
"However, the nearest I've managed to get is through my work
commentating at the shows and my 'normal' job as a farm
secretary."
Christine, a member of the Institute of Farm Secretaries, rents
some land behind her home in a village near York and can often be
seen out topping or harrowing on one of the three old classic
tractors - a grey Fergie, a Massey Ferguson 35X and a Massey 135 -
she owns with her fiancé Alan Barber.
Christine, who splits her working week between a large estate
and three other freelance secretarial/accounts jobs, became
interested in old tractors when she and Alan got a chance to buy
the grey Fergie from a friend.
"There's a whole shelf of tractor books upstairs," she says. "As
a woman I was always particularly keen not to sound ignorant at
shows when it came to the vintage tractor parades."
Apart from the tractors and horses, Christine says the grand
cattle parades at the big county shows are among her favourite
spectacles.
"When the Queen was at the Yorkshire Show this year, I was
incredibly proud of the fact that she actually sat for the full
hour of the cattle parade and seemed - from the photographs
afterwards as I couldn't lose my concentration and glance over for
even a second - to be finding it very interesting.
"For me, it's still very much a hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck
moment when the huge main rings are filled with these superb
specimens of livestock.
"Of course, things go wrong. Bulls have got loose, or handlers
been pulled over, but my job is very much to carry on regardless.
To not draw the audience's attention away from the main spectacle.
While some may see it as funny if all chaos is breaking out, I'm
very aware that it's potentially very dangerous and that there's
some very valuable animals out there. So it's all about keeping the
show rolling."
It is really rather rare to have a lady commentating on items
such as the tractor and cattle parades. In fact, hers is very much
a male-dominated profession, with Christine's main contemporaries
former event rider Mike Tucker and Nick Brooks-Ward, son of famous
show jumping commentator Raymond Brooks-Ward.
While she finds some announcing on television "not very
articulate", Christine rates the BBC's Clare Balding very
highly.
"Commentating seems to be following everything else in our
society, in the way that celebrity is everything," she says.
"Somebody may have been good at a particular sport, but that
doesn't mean that they can speak about it well.
"Clare Balding seems to buck this trend though. She's not only
knowledgeable but she's very clear and easy to listen to."
While Christine smiles about actually "kissing the Blarney
Stone" as a child, she says it's taken years of practice to try and
get the "right amount of waffle".
"People don't want their commentator to distract them," she
says. "They want facts and information. The odd aside is fine, but
it takes confidence to say nothing - to give people time to absorb
what's going on in front of them.
"If you're babbling on endlessly, there's the fear of becoming
background noise and that nobody will be properly listening when
you do have something worthwhile to say."
During her years commentating, Christine has met many famous
people including Prince Charles and Princess Anne. She respects
both of them for their knowledge and interest in the farming
industry.
"I've been incredibly lucky to never have to ask for a job,"
says Christine. "Right from my very first local one, dare I say it
that word-of-mouth has brought the shows to me. I've also been
fortunate in that the people I do my secretarial work for are
farmers and understand that, come spring, I'm around less often.
Their work all gets done but not necessarily at the normal times
during the week.
"It's a lovely life. One day I can be walking over the fields -
all my clients are within a couple of miles - with my spaniel,
Millie, to sort through some farm accounts and the next I can be
all dressed up in the main ring amid the razzmatazz of a top
show."
There's one other place that Christine likes to spend a bit of
time "I'll always turn up, if invited, at the local young farmers'
club competitions when it's public speaking time of year," she
says. "It's the most marvellous thing - so satisfying to see the
way taking part boosts members' confidence."
Christine Moore's top tips for aspiring commentators
- Join a Young Farmers' Club and take part in public speaking
competitions
- Read up about subjects. From shires to the Shetland Pony Grand
National, it pays to have a few facts up your sleeve in case
there's a delay and some filling-in is needed
- Never be sarcastic. Don't make fun at somebody else's expense,
for example if somebody falls off in a showjumping
competition
- Don't babble on. Speak if there's something to say, otherwise
don't
- It's obvious, but make sure the microphone is switched off
before making any personal comments