WHILE other summer events have fallen victim to the weather this year, the grey skies and rain seemed to make people in Blackwood even more determined to make Bedwellty Show a success. CHRIS WOOD reports.

AROUND 3,000 visited the showfield in Cefn Fforest yesterday for this year's Bedwellty Agricultural Show, with 300 exhibitors showing horses, sheep and dogs - a slight increase on 2011.

People poured in throughout the day, to see an array of animals from the show ponies and show jumpers to prize sheep, best puppies and racing ferrets, terriers and lurchers.

The competition rings seemed open to animals of all shapes and sizes- which was perhaps best illustrated by entrants in the best puppy category.

Michelle Michaelis entered her parsons russell Freda next to Hooch, a bull mastiff belonging to Shane Rogers from Markham, which, despite being of similar age, dwarfed his competitor like a heavyweight boxer would a flyweight.

Jack Bowerman, who lives on an Ebbw Vale farm is more used to showing his prize horses at the Royal Welsh, but still comes to Bedwellty every year.

He said: "It’s a good family show, there is something here for everyone."

This family spirit was illustrated by little Cira Hall, five, from Cwmbran, who walked around parading gran Wendy Williams’ black Welsh mountain sheep, which won first prize in the ewe lamb category.

The whole Leonard clan had also travelled from their Rogerstone farm and were proudly displaying three of their Jacob’s sheep.

Sitting opposite them was stick dresser Arthur Jones from Trelewis, who is a familiar face at shows around south Wales and crafts walking sticks using horns of animals such as buffalo and stags.

Event chairman Les Portlock said: "We’ve had to go with the weather, if it had been a boiling hot day, we might have got double the people in.

"But, we’ve been lucky in some ways, as Machen and St Mellons shows had to be cancelled."

And while the sun didn’t shine on the show this year, organisers weren’t complaining too much as vice-president Lorraine Ruff recalled a 30-year stretch from 1976 where the show didn’t experience one wet day.