IT WAS a real family affair for the Smales, of North Petherwin (pictured above, left), with two members travelling down from Hampshire to attend the show and provide support.

Three generations of the Smale family were showing cattle from their Glebewin herd. The youngest member of the family who was ‘encouraged into showing at a young age’ was ten-year-old Matthew Rowland, son of Craig and Gemma Rowland, grandson of Michael F and Caroline A Smale.

Matthew showed his three-month-old calf on the Saturday and won the young handler class.

The whole family was delighted to have the chance to come together for what they called a ‘special show’.

Lynette and Henry Steele, daughter and son-in-law of Mr and Mrs Smale, travelled down from Hampshire especially to support the family and help show the herd.

Henry said: “We’ve had a good turnout this year. Been here TB free for the last three years and it is a real family effort, very pleased to be able to support them!

“We brought in a small group of pedigree holsteins today, only the ones we thought would perform the best and so far that has been paying off.”

When asked what his role on the day was, Henry said: “Well, my actual job right now is to ensure there are buckets at the ready to catch the ‘brown stuff’ — not a glamourous job but one that needs doing.”

Speaking about their success Lynette said: “We’ve won the junior Holstein champion and the Cornish champion for holsteins. The herd consists of 130 holstein cattle and we have three generations of the family here today to show a small group of the Glebewin herd.”

Lynette said the family’s tradition of attending the show started with her great grandfather, she said: “My great grandfather was the first to attend these shows and we have just been coming ever since. I’ve always shown with my sister and parents and even though we live up in Hampshire now we weren’t going to miss the show — it’s the family show after all!”

When asked if they were put off by the damp weather, Lynette said: “Not at all! We got the tent set up quite quickly, which had its difficulties but we got through it! It really is a special show for us, this is our home show and nothing will deter us!”

l THE Collings family from Treburley were celebrating continued success showing their pigs at the show.

Adam Collings received the champion and reserve champion Welsh prizes, and also showed the male champion British Lop.

Remarking on his continued support of Royal Cornwall Show, Adam said: “For me growing up, it was our holidays.

Adam’s partner Ellie Mably was enjoying her first year helping with the showing. They had brought 17 pigs along. Adam added: “It was enough to wash this morning!”

This year the pig section enjoyed a significant surge in numbers with 261 entries received. This figure eclipses the previous high of 222 recorded in 2006.

The Berkshire, British Lop, British Saddleback, Large Black and Tamworth breeds all registered large increases in support this year and more than double the number of young handlers entered compared to last year.

The Pietrain pigs had their own dedicated classes, securing 22 entries, which is nearly twice the number required. This is the first time this has happened and is a very rare occurrence in the showing world.