Austwick Village Show
The Austwick Village Show took place on Saturday 1st August 2026.
As always, the 2026 Austwick Village Show was considered a huge success, with excellent weather during the afternoon, a good numbers of exhibits despite the hot summer we have had, with plenty of visitors and good profits from entrance charges, refreshments and the raffle. Despite the number of exhibits and visitors, the Show continued to retained its local community roots. Several adults from outside the villages of Austwick and Lawkland entered the Show this year – all with eligible local association links.
The number of entries for Artistic Flowers was unfortunately well down on last year reflecting the challenging weather conditions. However, entry numbers for the remaining sections held up well. Children’s exhibit numbers were slightly down from last year but the standard was again very high and included several new children exhibiting which augurs well for the future. The overall income from the Show, once expenses have been taken into account, is expected to be similar or better than 2025 despite fewer entries overall compared to 2025. The general standard of exhibits was high again this year and frankly amazing for a relatively small village. There were five new adult entries and many of the new entrants from last year exhibited again this year – always a good sign. All 9 of the judges worked well together and appeared to enjoy the experience and the lunch. As there were slightly fewer entries this year, they were all able to be displayed in the main hall. There was an increase in entries in the Art and Photography sections but slightly fewer handicraft entries.
The prize for best exhibit in show was a closely fought battle between a beautiful felted model of Old Father Time (Melanie Greenhalgh) and a wonderful Cabinet created from a recycled oak pew from St James’s Church (Tony Horswill) with the prize finally going to Melanie Greenhalgh.
The refreshments team, led by Gwen Cleverly, did the village proud and the refreshment room was constantly busy. Before the Prize giving and Raffle draw there was a speech made by Chair of the Yorkshire Dales National Park (Derek Twine) who introduced Eleck Energy Ltd and explained the sponsorship that had been given for the installation of the solar panels and battery in the Village Hall. A cheque was then presented to the village hall for £8772 by the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The prize giving was held outside and Patrick Grant (the Sewing Bee host) participated with an informal welcoming speech that was well received, him having entered several exhibits himself.
Read all of the 2026 Village Show results
Village Show AGM
The date for the Village Show’s AGM has now been confirmed as Wednesday 28th October 2026. The evening will commence at 7pm with a slide show of the 2026 Show highlights by Chris and Judy Leeming followed by the AGM from 7.30 pm. The AGM agenda and attachments will be circulated to current members of the Society 10 days before the AGM. Anyone with an interest in the future of the Society is encouraged to come to the slide show and AGM and possibly to consider joining the Show Committee, and therefore contributing to the 2027 Show which will be on Saturday 7th August 2027. Everyone is welcome to attend the AGM and slide show.
