Worcestershire steals limelight at Three Counties

The Three Counties Show has a competition between exhibitors from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, “the three counties”, which lend this huge agricultural show its name.
This year it was won by Sheila McStay from Worcestershire with one of her Australorps. Sheila’s Australorps had a splendid day as another of her Blue bantams became Best of Breed.
She also had the champion goose but her particular pleasure came when one of her sons, Sebastian, won the junior champion with his Belgian bantam.
Sheila’s best friend, Sarah Harris, was only attending her second show so she was astounded to find that both her Hamburg and Brahma were up on championship row. Sarah was even more dumbfounded when her bantam Brahma ultimately became the soft feather bantam champion.
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Champion Rare Breed. A White Jersey Giant belonging to J W Parfitt. |
The Three Counties has many Welsh exhibitors and this year the Welsh certainly took home more than their fair share of the club’s silverware. Both the large soft feather championship and the reserve show championship went to Tony Phillips from Carmarthen. Tony won both titles with one of his excellent White Silkies; Tony’s son, Sam, also did well with his notable Lavender Pekins. The Reverend Sion Alun makes a habit of winning major titles and at Great Malvern he did it yet again, this time winning the True Bantam sections with one of his memorable Belgians. A huge Jersey Giant cockerel belonging to J W Parfitt from Seven Sisters took another prestigious trophy back to Wales for the Champion Rare Breed.
English pride was redeemed when the Supreme Show Championship was awarded to an Old English Game legend, Norman Blower. On this occasion he took the ultimate award with a Black bantam.
However there’s no fierce rivalry at this show; it has a truly wonderful, friendly atmosphere which was created over 32 years by Sheila and Ben Dunnit. When Sheila and Ben retired last year they left some hard shoes to fill but luckily Huw Evans and Nick Langdon were just the men to do it.
Any show secretaries who bemoan a lack of volunteers could well make a pilgrimage down to Great Malvern. Here they could discover the Three Counties secret of recruiting an army of enthusiastic, helpful volunteers who made the whole event hugely enjoyable.
Show Champion | Norman Blower | Old English Game |
Reserve Show Champion | Tony Phillips | Silkie |
Best Large Soft Feather | Tony Phillips | Silkie |
Best Large Hard Feather | J N Hoskins | Carlisle |
Best Soft Feather Bantam (Heavy) | Sarah Harris | Brahma |
Best Soft Feather Bantam (Light) | Sarah Harris | Hamburg |
Best Hard Feather Bantam | Norman Blower | Old English Game |
Best True Bantam | Reverend Sion Alun | Belgian |
Best Rare Breed | J W Parfitt | Jersey Giant |
Best Junior Exhibitor | Sebastian McStay | Belgian |
Best Eggs | Sue Black | 3 Duck |
Best Trio | Richard Heath | Wyandottes |
Major poultry shows in July
• 9-11 Bridgend
Telephone: 01639 701 321
• 9-11 Liskeard, Cornwall
Telephone: 01579 350 624
• 13-15 Great Yorkshire
Telephone: 01423 546 231
• 16-17 Caithness
Telephone: 01955 611 266
• 19-22 Royal Welsh
Telephone: 01982 554 411
• 28 Nantwich
Telephone: 01630 638 630
• 31 Cockermouth
Telephone: 01900 824 575