Veteran horseman has attended every Aylsham Show for 70 years

Derek Spanton, who will be 82 in October, started going to the traditional August Bank Holiday event when he was about 12 years old.

Although he can't say for certain whether he was at the first show in 1952, he has seen it evolve from its humble beginnings to the huge attraction it is today, pulling in as many as 15,000 visitors.

And he is looking forward to continuing his long association with the event when it returns to the Blickling estate on Monday following two years of Covid cancellations.

"I love going to the Aylsham Show," he said. "It is definitely important to me.

"You meet all your friends from the close villages that you would not normally see. I have definitely missed it in the last two years."

Mr Spanton will be managing the heavy horse displays at Monday's show - although he is not taking his own Shire horses, named Herbie and Acle Cleo, this year as he is recuperating from an operation.

But he has fond memories of showing horses, dating back to when the animals were still working in the fields during the bygone era of horse-drawn agriculture.

"At the start, a lot of the horses were not pedigree like Herbie," he said. "A lot of them just came off the farm for the Monday's show and were back working on the land again on the Tuesday.

"It was just a small agricultural show with a few tractors and a few agricultural engineering firms and that was it. Now it is massive.

"If you got 2 or 3,000 people in those days you were lucky. A lot of people didn't have cars and used to rely on other people. My uncle had a coal business and we used to use his lorry to take us to the show."

Mr Spanton lives in Smallburgh, near Stalham, where every wall, shelf and mantlepiece in his home is decked with pictures, trophies, rosettes and memorabilia from a lifetime of equine shows.

He worked for 45 years as a driver for Eastern Electricity, and kept Shire horses as a hobby.

"I used to get 10 weeks' holiday a year for long service and that is when I would do my shows," he said.

"I just love the horses. They are a part of my life. They have been in my family for over 100 years and I didn't want that to stop."

Mr Spanton said 22-year-old Herbie is retired now, but the pair have been a familiar sight at agricultural shows, fetes, weddings, carnivals, funerals, and school proms.

He said it was important to keep telling the story of working horses, both to keep their history alive, and to generate interest to preserve rare breeds as their numbers dwindle.

Charlotte Gurney, of the White House Farm shop and cafe in Sprowston, is on the executive committee for the Aylsham Show, where she runs the Food Hall.

She said: "Derek absolutely transcends the journey of the show and he can remember it 70 years ago, coming as a young man, before any of the committee that we are now working with were involved.

"It is fantastic that he is still here and just such an advocate for the show and the journey the show has taken.

"It started out as a humble farming affair and to think that he is still going 70 years on is fantastic. There are not too many characters like that."

The Aylsham Show returns to the Blickling estate on Monday, August 29. For more information and tickets see theaylshamshow.co.uk