Well the sign says Dales Way 82 miles, but in fact that’s not quite right: because the distance
from here, on the packhorse bridge at Ilkley, to Bowness on Windermere, is actually 78 miles.
But I have to say that’s a bit of a red herring, because we’re not heading west
towards the Lakes now, we’re going north up to Egton Bridge in North Yorkshire. Because
it was there in the year 1800 that a Gooseberry Society was formed to find out who could grow
the biggest gooseberry locally. Well, that competition is still going on, it takes place
on the first Tuesday in August every year. And the competition? Well, it’s as cut-throat as ever!
The first Gooseberry Shows, took place in about the 1740s. And, really, the
people who introduced them were in the Manchester area, were the weavers, who all lived
in sort of rows of cottages that had very small gardens. And gooseberries lent themselves to these
small gardens, and gooseberry competitions sprang-up all over. And it certainly was started
in that era when the weavers were in business. And then, of course, the First World War was
the demise of all Gooseberry Shows all over the country, because whole towns went to war
and the Industrial Revolution. And really after the First World War from about 240 shows
all over the country they went down to about 12. And after the First World War, between
the First World War and the Second World War, there were only two left in the country, they
almost all disappeared. There’s us now, at Egton Bridge, and Cheadle Hulme down in Cheshire.
I think it is the thrill of growing the biggest berry. Our show over the years
hasn’t altered at all. It’s exactly the same format that it was 200 years ago. It
was started in 1800, was Egton Bridge Gooseberry Show, we have no records earlier than that.
And, I think it’s the old world atmosphere of the show that attracts people. Everything
in this modern world is moving so fast, and when they come to Egton Bridge for the Gooseberry
Show, I think it is just as though time has stood still. There’s a lot of real old fashioned
rules: …you know, the committee has the right to come and inspect your berries
at any time - to see that you’re not fiddling or anything! And, if you move, you’ve got
to dig your trees up with a committee member as a witness, to see you dig them up and plant
them in your new property. Always the first Tuesday in August. The procession starts about
eight o’clock and we start weighing about half past eight. It’s open to the public
from 2:00pm and then at six o’clock, half past six, the band arrives. Stape Original
Band. So they’re straight out the fields and the cowshed, some of them have hardly
had time to get shaved and ready. But they’re all sort of farming people is the Original
Band, and plays in the school yard, while… then we draw the raffle. Then it goes and
plays at the Post Gate or over at The Horseshoe [pubs]. Well, there’s the heaviest berry,
which is the ultimate prize in the whole show; whether it’s a yellow, red, green or white.
And then you have the second heaviest; and then you have the heaviest twins; the heaviest
six… heaviest 12; heaviest six; best beaten berry - there’s quite a lot
of categories. Egg boxes are very popular means of carrying them, but as I say, a lot
of the very keen members have their own boxes, and they come out each year, y’know. They’re
a bit of a drawback, is a box, because if you haven’t got very big berries and you
bring this box in, and you throw the lid up, and they’re only small berries, it’s a
bit of an anti-climax! If you bring them in an egg box, at least people can see that they aren’t very good!
Some people pick their berries on the morning of the show; some people
don’t believe in picking them beforehand too long, because they lose weight, or, there’s
all sorts of old fables about it. But, you have a very wet time or a very hot time, y’know
it’s never right for gooseberry growers, there’s always some foul pest - wasps attacking
them. We’ve had excuses of mice eating them; badgers coming into the pen and getting them.
If they don’t win, everybody has an excuse as to why they haven’t won! We have about,
I would say over 100 members, and I would think there’s about 80-90 people show, actually.
I think we had about 90 plates of berries on the tables last year. There’s people who
from the shows down at Cheshire; we have a man that comes up from Norwich; Hull; Birmingham
- all over the place. We weigh in ounces, drams and grains. And the scales that we have,
they were bought in 1938. Salter’s scales they are: oil damped - and they will weigh
a feather. So, y’know, some of the berries are very close, but the scales are very accurate.
The weighing is: there’s two weigh men at one side of the weigh and then there’s two
judges at this side of the weigh; and the berries are put onto the weigh and they are
weighed and that is… you can’t fiddle or anything. Its not shape, colour, form - it’s
simply weight. And the scales never lie. The World Record this last year, 2009, Brian Ellis,
with 25 drams, which is just over 2 ozs, isn’t it? 16 drams to an ounce, so it’s over 2 ozs.
And that was a World Record. And so it's rather fitting that it should come to the
village where the show is held. Woodpecker is a very good variety, it wins constantly
every year. But you can have a dozen woodpecker bushes, but only one woodpecker bush will
produce big berries - it seems to be in the genes. So you are constantly pruning out the
bushes that don’t grow big berries and replacing them with the bushes that you’ve got off
a member of the club who thinks that it’ll grow big berries. But it’s a constant battle
changing the bushes ‘round. They want plenty of moisture in the early stages, when they
are small berries, they want to be very wet and swell them, you see. And a dry season:
if you don’t swell, you want sun to ripen them, because a green berry, if it’s the
day of the show and you have a big berry and it’s green, it isn’t juicy inside,
it's just solid. It won’t weigh. A berry to weigh has to be absolutely full of liquid.
And the only way you’ll get one like that is ripened by the sun. Of course, when they
are at that stage, they are very prone to burst. But that’s how the heaviest berries
- are the ones that are full of juice. If you have a berry with seeds in and then a berry of the same
size fully ripe and full of juice, it’ll beat the one with seeds in hands down every time.
We have at the end of the show, a lot of the berries are given away, and a lot of
people make wine with them. I don’t know whether anybody actually eats them because,
you know, probably they’re very suspicious of what they’ve been fed on! You hear stories
of dead pigs and all sorts being buried in the pen - whether that’s right or not, I
don’t know! Sheep droppings is a favourite thing - in a barrel. A bag of sheep droppings
and then it’s watered down to the colour of weak tea and they’re fed with that. That’s
a very old feed is that. But the strange thing is, the berries aren’t a lot heavier now
than they were 200 years ago - in spite of all the modern fertilisers and things that
are on the market now. I mean, there wouldn’t have been any fertilisers at all 200 years
ago, only the basic ones, wouldn’t they? Yes, probably good horse, plenty of, good
supply of horse manure in those days y’see, which is in shorter supply now, even cow manure
well rotted is in short supply. And that’s what they want: plenty of good muck. There’s
two classes y’see: maidens and growers. And the maiden classes people who’ve never
won a major prize before, and the growers’: well, once you’ve win a major prize in the
maidens’ you move up into the growers’ - and I moved up into the growers’ about
25 years ago and I ain’t done any good ever since! My day will come, my day will come!
How long have you been growing gooseberries? How long have I been growing ‘em? Er, seven
years, but I only been showing ‘em for three. What got you into that then? Cos me wife was
doin’ it and I had to beat her - but I haven’t beat her yet! So, do you grow them in the
same patch of ground, or… No. In the next, We have two separate pens. You aren’t allowed
to grow ‘em all in one, and share ‘em. You only have your own pens and your own bushes.
I’ve got four bushes left in mine this time. Cos I had 17 and they brought it off with
wet. Too wet at spring where I am. So they’ve never been touched then since April. Are you
quite pleased with them - how big they’ve grown? Well, I wasn’t going to fetch any.
The only reason I fetched them, I thought it’s a bad year, there might not be many in.
I didn’t think I’d win owt like, but I’ve just come to keep the show going.
So, are all these white gooseberries or yellow gooseberries or… they’re all different
colours: there’s reds, greens, yellows and white. So how can you tell the difference
between the…? Well, that one, is a white one; that one is a yellow one; and, that one
is a red one. And I haven’t got a green one. Does that make a difference, really,
what… the weight of them, whether they’re different colours? They’re all different
varieties. Some years it could be a white that wins, and another year, a yellow that
wins. But more often than not, it’s a yellow one that wins the show. It’s surprising
how they look big until you get them on the scales innit! So, do you live ‘round here?
Aye, about 10 mile away, Staithes. There isn’t many locals now, is there? Well, we’re Guisborough,
and this lad’s from Hornsea. A couple of good ones there then aren’t there? There’s
a fellow down here that said his berries were as good as yours a week since… well, he
told me that when I was out in yard. But then he said he’d swop me. So I thought well….
you must have pumped the buggers up since last week!