The Kenilworth Advertiser of 15th August 1903 carried a detailed report of the second triennial King’s Newnham and Church Lawford Show. The main narrative has been transcribed below, with the reports on the various prizes shown in the original text below that.
In delightful weather this triennial exhibition took place on Wednesday, at Newnham. Mr. J. Brierly, the Treasurer of the Society, again placed the grounds of the Hall at the services of the Committee, and threw open his pretty gardens to visitors.
The attendance was most satisfactory, and the exhibition was perhaps the most successful which has taken place. The entries were in number much in advance of 1900, there being no fewer than 760 in all – 260 for the flower show and 400 for the industrial division. The sports, too, attracted a numerous entry, and the contests were both interesting and amusing. The Rugby Town Band were present, and another feature of the event was the demonstrations in bee-keeping given by Mr. G. Franklin, the County Council expert.
The exhibition was one of the most interesting seen in the county. The flower show itself is similar to that of other societies; it is in the industrial division that the novelty and attractiveness lie. In this division the management sought to promote a healthy emulation in thrift and domesticity, and the excellence of the exhibits must have been most gratifying to the ladies and gentlemen of the district who have interested themselves in the matter.
The matrons and maidens of the villages of Church Lawford and King’s Newnham vied with one another in the production of shirts for the men, frocks for children, blouses for themselves, stockings and socks, and in neatness and skill in patching and darning. The making of hearthrugs and door mats was another test of their patience and taste, and bread-making, poultry-keeping, and butter production were other features.
There were other classes in which the women and their daughters displayed their ingenuity, one of which was the serving of a supper, to cost not more than a modest shilling, for four adults. The only restriction was that the supper should include no intoxicants. Notwithstanding the enforced economy, most of the competitors succeeded in displaying suppers ample in quantity and apparently calculated to satisfy the taste of most healthy adults.
The ladies also competed in the making of meat pies and tarts and puffs, and in the getting-up of collars and cuffs. The young men had their opportunity in bootmending, and both sexes could apparently enter into the lists for making the most useful and ornamental articles from the most useless materials. The result of their efforts in this direction was very creditable.
The boys and girls of the two parishes were not overlooked. The girls were invited to send in specimens of cotton patchwork, knitting, darning, and collections of pressed leaves, and the boys to describe in a letter a holiday spent by them. The elder members of the Band of Hope were asked to write an essay explaining why they were members of this temperance organisation, and the younger ones exhibited specimens of their copybook writing.
An open section contained many attractive classes. Fruit cakes, sponge cakes, seed and rice cakes, dishes of fancy cakes, filled a corner of the tent, which one critic declared was the best spot in the whole exhibition.
Carving, etching, and carpentry were other well-filled classes, and several well finished working models were on view. The paintings and etchings showed much artistic taste and skill. Those with poetic instincts were catered for, and a number of poems on “village life” were read by visitors with appreciation.
In addition to the ordinary classes in the flower show, the men were stimulated to extra interest in horticulture by the offer of prizes for the best-kept allotment or garden. Prizes for this class were offered by the Duke of Buccleuch; and the Rector, the Rev. J. Pleydell Driver, displayed his interest in the welfare of the parishioners by not only offering many of the prizes but by serving as Chairman of the General Committee, and Secretary to the flower show division.
Much of the success of the event is due to the interest taken in the exhibition by Mr. and the Misses Brierly, and the Misses Townsend. Amongst those present during the afternoon and evening were the Rev. J. Pleydell Driver and Mrs. Driver, the Rev. R. P. Watson, Rev. C. Coombs, Mr. Steel-Maitland (the Unionist candidate for the Rugby Division), Mrs. Maitland, Dr. Hair, Mr. T. G. Bolam (agent to the Duke of Buccleuch), Mr. Meade (sub-agent), Mr. and Mrs. Brierley. the Misses Brierley, the Misses Townsend, the Misses Watson, Mr, and Mrs. Chalmers, Mr. and Mrs. Crawley, Mr. W. Dunn.
The list of awards is appended.
