The Show

Saturday was the Dyffryn Ogwen (Bethesda) Agricultural Show – http://www.sioedyffrynogwen.co.uk/

Held on the Rugby ground where many a Bethesdabaker has pitched his tent (and, in the case of Chris Young, Real Bread Campaign, had it nicked before bedtime day one) it’s probably typical of small agricultural shows around the country; a roped off square for the horse displays, a smaller one for the kids’ sports, sheep pens between the two, the whole flanked by marquees for the various competitions: poultry, garden produce, domestic produce, etc.; a line-up of a dozen vintage tractors, their owners sharing stories aloof, in fact roped off, from the crowd; the refreshment tent (nothing as dangerous as a beer tent), and, inevitably, the Farmers Union of Wales tent.

This will give you some idea:
The rugby posts are the giveaway. They’ve long been renewed. This was the show ten years ago in 2007 before the first Bethesdabakin’.
I swear these are the same hens.

I guess these things are not supposed to change in fact the biggest surprise is that it was only started in 1972 and not as a celebration of the departure of the Romans. As a resident it is your duty to support it (even at 2 quid an OAP).

I kid you not, there are 48 pages of entry categories very few of which are comic (longest stick of rhubarb?). But when you get down to Cookery and you look for the bread section the sole category is:

“1. Torth o fara gwyn neu frown / A Loaf of white or brown bread”

On the way in we met our friends Glen & Elin. You’ll remember Glen if you were at Bethesdabakin’5. I was joking with them about the bread category when Glen said he had entered the previous year. He baked a white sourdough loaf which came out absolutely perfect so he entered it with some confidence. After the judging he was a little disappointed not to have won especially when he saw the competition. The judges comments criticised the crumb which they said had large and uneven bubbles ….