Leighton Hall
July 12th brought our visit to the Leighton Hall show. Generally speaking, the Club tends not to prefer “muddy field” events, usually preferring Sunday runs to be an opportunity to drive our cars. Equally, we don’t favour “silver jug hunting” on immaculate lawns either. But, on this occasion, Mark and Jane plotted out a superb rural route from the picturesque village of Gisburn to Leighton Hal, in the South Lakes, on a beautifully sunny morning, and the secretary can assure our readers that the field was not in the least muddy! The show day did suffer a little from a rather sparser attendance than one might have expected but it was, after all, the weekend of the Wimbledon finals. Consequently, rather than being placed somewhere low down in the field we were ushered, like visiting celebrities, [well, we are! Sec] to a prime position directly in front of the Neo-Gothic façade of Leighton Hall. This grand House was bought in the early 19th century by the Gillow family, the famous furniture manufacturer, who later joined up with Wareing to form Wareing and Gillow who produced some of the most notable products of their age. We had an enjoyable picnic sheltered by our gazebo thoughtfully brought by our chairman Roger, so we even avoided sunburn. While we were there, a gentlemen called Steve Crook introduced himself and asked if we would like to be included in his projected self-published book recording the social groupings of Lancashire. Later and still hoods down we took to the roads again and some hardy souls even went back over the Trough of Boland. A wonderful day, thanks to Mark and Janet and our next outing will be another show — this time at Pateley Bridge in August.
