President for show's centenary in Wharfedale

“Going to Otley for the first time with my sister Joy was when I thought maybe Yorkshire wouldn’t be so bad. I’ve served on the horse section there for many years and still run the showjumping classes. I started at Arthington Show about 12 years ago and this will be my third year as president of Arthington, Bramhope, Pool & District Agricultural Society.

“We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful site in Pool in Wharfedale with the river and beautiful views from the valley. We’re extremely grateful to landowners Michael Greenwood and Nigel Launder.

“I’m a great believer you should put something back into things when you’ve had so much fun out of them. Shows like Arthington and Otley are fabulous for getting rural communities together but they are just as important in educating the public.”

Bruce and wife Anne run Acrecliffe Equestrian Centre at Ellar Ghyll on Bradford Road leading out of Otley where Anne’s parents Wilf and Mary Butler ran a mixed, 20-acre farm raising poultry, selling eggs and rearing commercial beef cattle. Bruce worked in a boarding kennels near Birmingham before moving north and opened a pet shop in Shipley at 21-years-old called Good Companions.

“Anne had started a riding school and after bringing Joy I also came for riding lessons. As a boy in Herefordshire I’d had an interest in horses through my grandfathers, one of whom was a huntsman and the other a blacksmith.”

Bruce became a significant player in the show jumping and breeding world and Anne’s riding school has brought on talented riders. She competes in sidesaddle and won the mature riders class at the national championships last year.

“I keep thinking this is my last year competing, but then I think why should it be?” says Anne, who won on her horse Sapphire.

Bruce was one of the main importers of cobs, ponies and show jumpers from Ireland.

“I once beat Harvey (Smith) at Otley Show,” says Bruce. “He always called me ‘lad’. I got to within a whisker of competing at the Horse of the Year Show one time when I’d completed a double clear and was second with the top two to qualify but was beaten by a very young John Whitaker. He must have been around 12-13 years old at the time. His double clear beat mine by two seconds.”

Bruce and Anne’s granddaughter Bryony has gone one better than her grandfather by jumping ponies and a horse at the Horse of the Year Show.

In the past, Bruce enjoyed showing St Bernard dogs, and both won and judged at Crufts.

Arthington Show takes place in Pool in Wharfedale on July 2 and will feature flypasts by a Dakota and an Avro Anson to mark its centenary.