Priddy Sheep Fair cancelled due to weather for first time in 664 years - Somerset

From the Western Daily Press

It has continued through war, famine, drought and plague but for the first time ever in 664 years, the annual Priddy Sheep Fair has become a victim of the weather.

A sheep fair has been run every year since at least 1348 on the village green at Priddy in the Mendips, whatever the weather – only foot and mouth stopped the event happening in 2001 and 2007.

But now, with more than a month to go before the influx of Travellers and fair-goers, the village green has been declared unfit to host it, and organisers said even five weeks of nice weather from now won’t save the event.

Other landowners with equally muddy fields nearby are reluctant to take on the challenge, and villagers on the parish council’s organising committee said they have had to take the ‘very difficult decision’ to abandon their plans now, rather than wait and see if the village green mudbath might have dried up in time.

The West has endured the wettest April on record, the wettest June on record and the wettest April-June three-month period on record, while July hasn’t been much better. A host of events have fallen victim to the Great Deluge of 2012, including the horse trials of Badminton and Gatcombe.

Yesterday, another music festival was also scrapped because of the boggy ground. The first ever RowdyFest, a music festival designed to be accessible to young people with special needs, was due to take place this Saturday at Rowdeford School, near Devizes, but was axed because the school grounds are too wet for car parking.

Some festivals are going ahead whatever the weather – and their courage looks like it could be rewarded. Forecasters are predicting the skies over the West could gradually be drying out in the next few days, with what might be described as ‘summer’ appearing by the middle of next week.

Organisers are pressing ahead with this weekend’s biggest festival – the Village Pump event at the White Horse Country Park, under the shadow of the cement works chimney on the edge of Westbury, Wiltshire. Top folk acts including Seth Lakeman and Cara Dillon are performing this weekend. And the forecast for the region’s biggest festival of the year is looking good next weekend. The stages are being erected this week at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury, ready for the Womad Festival.

But even if it doesn’t rain between now and August 22, when the Priddy Sheep Fair was due to be held, it is too late for the 2012 event.

Organisers said they had to take the decision now to avoid booking trade stands and to give people enough notice.

“It was a really tough decision to take,” said Martin Edwards, the chairman of the organising committee. “We had a realistic look at all the options that were available to us but, in the end, the safety of our helpers and visitors had to come first.”