Stokesley Show: Eyes to the sky as preparations begin to bring curtain down on show season

One man for whom the weather was no doubt a more constant threat through his career at sea will be hoping the stars align for his first opportunity to come out of his marquee-based Stokesley Show stewardship of the past twenty-plus years when he takes up the honorary title of show president.

John Fletcher has been one of the show’s many volunteers for a number of years with his wife Anne, based in the Arts & Crafts marquee and has been a member of the show council for twenty years.

“When you’re involved in a particular facet of the show you tend to remain within your area and have limited opportunity to go around all the tents and visit the rest of the showground,” says John.

“I’m very much looking forward to being escorted around and looking at everything from the ferrets to the flowers and all the show has to offer.

“I joined the council of Stokesley Show 20 years ago and was interested in what was happening. There was a need for somebody to look after the arts and crafts.

"Since one of my hobbies is being an artist, using watercolour, I took that on. I’ve handed that over to Cath Waters, this year, our chairman Neal Waters’ wife.”

John is a local man, born and bred in Great Ayton and lives just two doors from his birthplace. His daughter lives where he was born. He also had an early affinity with rural life.

“In my teenage years I used to almost live at Woodhouse Farm in Little Ayton where my father, the seventh son Walter Septimus Fletcher was born. It belonged to my uncle Harold Fletcher by then and I’d spend my spare hours there from being 8 to16 years old.

“It was a world of change at that time. much like it is today. The world of the binder and stooks that had to point towards Roseberry Topping so that the prevailing wind went through and dried them.

"The time when Charlie Turner baler twine replaced wire binding on straw bales, when the Grey Fergie went red.

"And the Village Queen steam tractor engine was replaced by the single cylinder Field Marshall; and when Harold Martin, a local farmer, hauled his threshing machine from farm to farm.

“I saw an apprenticeship in agricultural engineering as an attractive proposition because I loved tractors, but it was a seafaring life that won the day and I joined a five year apprenticeship scheme with BP Oil.”

John spent 12 years at sea before marriage to Anne and starting a family took precedence. A career in the iron and steel industry saw him join Redpath Dorman Long and he and Anne moved to Newport in South Wales before coming back north to build the iron and steel plant at Redcar.

“I often summarise my career as everything I ever sailed on or built has since been sunk or scrapped, even Redcar Steelworks has gone,” says John who returned to the sea through the offshore oil industry, building accommodation modules everywhere from the North Cormorant oilfield in the North Sea to living quarters for an oil rig on the Nile Delta.

John’s route to Stokesley Show’s council came having joined Great Ayton Parish Council in the early 80s, that he retired from two years ago; becoming an elected member of Hambleton District Council which he later chaired; and being elected to North Yorkshire County Council which led to being involved with North York Moors National Park of which he was chairman five years.

John says that he wasn’t a regular at the show in his early years for two reasons, but that he has always maintained a love of the countryside and farming.

“I had difficulty attending the show as a child because it was always held on a Thursday and so far as the headmaster of the Quaker Friends School in Great Ayton was concerned it was a real no-no and then I was at sea for a dozen years. It was only when it moved to a Saturday that we’ve been going regularly.

“But I’ve always had a love of farming and Stokesley Show has fantastic classes for sheep and cattle which I’m looking forward to seeing as president. My cousin Stuart Fletcher is a past show president and operates a farm with his son at Little Ayton so we’re regulars there.

“I also love horses and rode out regularly with the Cleveland Hunt until the early 1990s. Myself and my brothers all rode ponies. Our granddaughter has taken up pony riding too.”

John and Anne have two children.

“Simon, who is married to Katie and they run the Royal Oak Hotel and the Buck Hotel both in Great Ayton; and Julia who is married to Andrew Johnston who also live in the village.”

John has been involved with many organisations in his varied career, which also included being cub scout leader at Great Ayton, but gives special praise to the people behind Stokesley Show that is one of Yorkshire’s largest one day shows, perhaps second only as a one day show in terms of number attending to Driffield Show.

“What a lot of people don’t realise is just what it takes to run Stokesley Show. I find it absolutely amazing that the secretary can tell you how many ferrets are in the show as well as how many are competing in the show jumping.

"The level of expertise in the council and management of the show is unbelievable in my view having been involved in high management and its ethos of continuous improvement is wonderful to see.”