onionbagblog
Showtime!
Except this year the Lambeth Show was... um, so so. Actually that's slightly harsh. It was still fun, still full of surprises and best of all, still fantastically FREE. Never look a gift horse, and all that, but the Country Show has been flogged like a dead gee gee this year.
As ever with the Rotten Borough, the bottom line is hard cash. Realising that 100,000 or so local people in the same park is something of a captive audience, the Lambeth Council knobbers out-sourced the Show to a new management team this year.
As is ever the case with local government, out-sourcing often leads to a loss in quality, coupled with a price hike. Not for the good people of Lambeth (and let is be said once again: The Lambeth Show is FREE!) but a rent increase for the many local businesses, organisations and charities that rely upon the Lambeth Show to spread the word of their good work.
The end result was a showground looking a little sparse, lacking the local vibrant buzz provided by the many varied (and sometimes plain bonkers) Brixton based organisations. The Lambeth Show may as well have been the Loughborough Show, such was the lack of locality. But hey - it remained FREE!
Instead of the local historic societies we had an Ann Summers stall (swinging Lambeth, and all that,) a knobber Petrolhead showroom and a new development this year, the crappy Council Avenue. A row of stalls were set out by the Rotten Borough, flying the flag for the good work carried out by the Council. The Environmental Services stand didn't sit too well alongside the knobber Petrolhead showroom.
Council Avenue may as well have been closed for the weekend; you don't come to your local show to hear the crappy local Council bang on about how bloody good they are. Look elsewhere however and the Lambeth Show was still the BEST weekend in South London.
Anyone who can't get excited by ferret racing in the Rotten Borough deserves to live in Loughborough. Likewise at the sight of a wooden cow being milked by a couple of school kids.
But the highlight had to be the horticultural section, rosettes and ribbons on hand for the Best in Show across the various categories. As ever, the vegetable sculpture competition stole the show. Magic Roundabout was bonkers; Amy Greenhouse was just sheer genius. Time for rehab, etc.
It was around this time that the Chucklehead cider kicked in. So much so that I didn't miss the almighty mess up on the Main Stage that stopped headliners Aswad performing as the running order was behind schedule. You can just hear that nice Farmer Eavis say:
'I'm terribly sorry, Mr Jay-Z, we appear to have run out of time. It's an early night for you, young fella.'
DO turn around, blah blah blah.
Only in the Rotten Borough, etc.
I reckon that's what you call doing the Lambeth Walk.
Boom, boom.
Full flickr feed over HERE.
technorati: lambeth show
| Tuesday 22 July, 2008 |
Except this year the Lambeth Show was... um, so so. Actually that's slightly harsh. It was still fun, still full of surprises and best of all, still fantastically FREE. Never look a gift horse, and all that, but the Country Show has been flogged like a dead gee gee this year.
As ever with the Rotten Borough, the bottom line is hard cash. Realising that 100,000 or so local people in the same park is something of a captive audience, the Lambeth Council knobbers out-sourced the Show to a new management team this year.
As is ever the case with local government, out-sourcing often leads to a loss in quality, coupled with a price hike. Not for the good people of Lambeth (and let is be said once again: The Lambeth Show is FREE!) but a rent increase for the many local businesses, organisations and charities that rely upon the Lambeth Show to spread the word of their good work.
The end result was a showground looking a little sparse, lacking the local vibrant buzz provided by the many varied (and sometimes plain bonkers) Brixton based organisations. The Lambeth Show may as well have been the Loughborough Show, such was the lack of locality. But hey - it remained FREE!
Instead of the local historic societies we had an Ann Summers stall (swinging Lambeth, and all that,) a knobber Petrolhead showroom and a new development this year, the crappy Council Avenue. A row of stalls were set out by the Rotten Borough, flying the flag for the good work carried out by the Council. The Environmental Services stand didn't sit too well alongside the knobber Petrolhead showroom.
Council Avenue may as well have been closed for the weekend; you don't come to your local show to hear the crappy local Council bang on about how bloody good they are. Look elsewhere however and the Lambeth Show was still the BEST weekend in South London.
Anyone who can't get excited by ferret racing in the Rotten Borough deserves to live in Loughborough. Likewise at the sight of a wooden cow being milked by a couple of school kids.
But the highlight had to be the horticultural section, rosettes and ribbons on hand for the Best in Show across the various categories. As ever, the vegetable sculpture competition stole the show. Magic Roundabout was bonkers; Amy Greenhouse was just sheer genius. Time for rehab, etc.
It was around this time that the Chucklehead cider kicked in. So much so that I didn't miss the almighty mess up on the Main Stage that stopped headliners Aswad performing as the running order was behind schedule. You can just hear that nice Farmer Eavis say:
'I'm terribly sorry, Mr Jay-Z, we appear to have run out of time. It's an early night for you, young fella.'
DO turn around, blah blah blah.
Only in the Rotten Borough, etc.
I reckon that's what you call doing the Lambeth Walk.
Boom, boom.
Full flickr feed over HERE.
technorati: lambeth show
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