THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD
A location amid a jumble of local access lanes and a summer of endless rain. Not the best of combinations for the organisers of the first Game Fair. Held at Hall Farm, Stetchworth, Suffolk, in 1958, the new event was the brainchild of Nigel Gray of what is now the GWCT.
Gray, along with his boss Charles Coles and the CLA, expected an audience of 500. As the gates opened, it didn’t take long for the organisers to realise they may have underestimated the attraction of this fledgling event. By the end of the final day, 8,500 visitors had enjoyed the array of gundog trials, falconry displays, gunmakers and of all things rural.
Some 64 years later and the Game Fair — this year’s takes place…
