Stable girl helps secure the return of North Yorkshire show

There is now an air of calm around Foulrice Farm at Marton in the Forest, North Yorkshire as Rachel Hetherington attends to Penny Duke’s hunters. The season for these horses is over for another year and for Rachel her new role as show secretary, following on from the role her mum Kim Beaumont held for many years, has proved a success.

“We had a great day with around 4,000 attending and livestock numbers up on what we’d had in 2014, so everyone was pleased with that and the sun shone for us too.

“I’d love for us to get it back to the days when Rob Cass ran it. He lived in a big farmhouse between Huby and Stillington and the show meetings at his place were great. Those were the days when we attracted up to 7,000 and there were even thoughts of turning it into a two-day show. 
“Lots of people told me on show day how great it is to see it back. We’ve moved the show date from July to June and changed which day it is held. It was also our first time on a Saturday.

“We haven’t attracted quite the number of agricultural trade stands that we’d hoped, which is slightly disappointing as I’m keen that we are an agricultural show not a country fair. Maybe next year we’ll do better now that the farm companies see we’re back to stay. We had some great support though, including Argrain from Easingwold.”

Ironically Rachel’s drive to do her bit in getting the show back up and running cost her the opportunity she’d been hoping for in seeing her three-year old son Miles take part in the pony classes.

“It’s one of the reasons why I got back into the organisation of the show again. I used to be on the committee and I’ve stewarded as well as taken part over the years. I was looking forward to taking him last year and then there wasn’t a show so I decided to help get it back going so I could take him. He took part in the dog show instead and got third prize.

“We have a wonderful location for the show at Sutton Park and this year was the first time that I can remember in the show’s history that the gardens were open. That made for another really lovely attraction. Lady Sheffield and her son Robert judged the mounted fancy dress competition.”

Rachel is used to organisation and management in the horse racing and hunt world. Her career as a stable lass included working with National Hunt trainers Gordon Richards at Greystoke in Cumbria and Ferdy Murphy at West Witton near Middleham. She also worked with flat racing trainer David Nicholls and was responsible for the Middleton Hunt horses. She has recently returned to Penny Duke’s hunters.

“I’ve been head stable girl and held managerial positions before so taking on the secretary’s role for the show hasn’t fazed me yet although there is a huge amount more to do than I ever realised.

“Fortunately we also have a lot of fresh blood on the committee and everyone, whether they are people who have been involved for years or are new to the show, are doing their bit. We’ve never had a shortage of ideas it’s sometimes just been a lack of people to carry out all that needs doing that has put maybe too much unnecessary pressure on too few.

“Hopefully we’re now getting to the stage where everyone is starting to realise that if they want a show then they should get involved in some way.”

Rachel lives in Strensall with husband Andrew who works for Hobson’s Farming at Crockey Hill - one of the show’s sponsors.

She was born and brought up in Huby and also lived in Sutton on the Forest. Her step-dad Stuart Beaumont is the son of racehorse trainer Peter Beaumont.