PLOUGH SUNDAY CELEBRATION IN WEST WILTSHIRE
The Warminster And Wylye Valley Society For Local Study are holding a Plough Sunday Celebration on Sunday 12th January 2003.
The Celebration will take place at Sundial Farm, Corton, near
Warminster in Wiltshire, courtesy of farmers Richard and Robin Witt.
Some readers will no doubt have attended and enjoyed the wonderful
Royal Jubilee Ploughing Weekend hosted by Richard and Robin at Corton
last June, which attracted vintage tractors and ploughs from a wide
area.
The forthcoming Plough Sunday Celebration will include an
exhibition of hundreds of photographs of ploughing plus exclusive and
continuous running video shows of ploughing matches held in recent
times at East Stoke (Dorset); Charford, Rockbourne and Somerley
(Hampshire); Lullington, Mells, and Stanton Drew (Somerset); and
Bowerchalke, Boyton, Bratton, Chicklade, Corton, Mere, Old Sarum,
Wadswick, Warminster and Wilton (Wiltshire).
Modern and vintage tractors and ploughs as well as horse ploughing
will be portrayed. Most of the photographs and video have been shot by
Warminster's leading local historian Danny Howell and much of this has
not been seen in public before. The exhibition will also incorporate
illustrations of 'on the farm' ploughing, as well as poetry, prose and
songs celebrating ploughs, ploughing and ploughmen. There will also be
a feature on past Plough Sunday events.
There will be music and dancing from the White Horse Morris Men
and Band, a licensed bar, refreshments, gift stall and a tombola of
ploughing items. There will also be, subject to confirmation, a
blessing of the plough ceremony and a guest appearance. Leaflets and
information from plough-makers will also be available.
Admission is £1.50 per person, payable at the door. Proceeds will
go towards the Warminster And Wylye Society For Local Study's goal of
establishing an archive and visitor centre for the public, including
schoolchildren and the disabled, to access the history, landscape and
customs of the area.
The event opens at 10.00 a.m. and runs until 4.00 p.m. Everyone is welcome, male or female, young or old, farming or not.
Corton is four miles west of Warminster and the Plough Sunday
Celebrations will be signposted off the A36 Warminster-Salisbury road.
The Plough, the only magazine for the working ploughman, Issue No.5, January 2003.
