The morning of 19th May found us packing the car ready for British Driving Society Area 24's carriage driving event. We had been invited to the event by Claire Bourne (Area Commissioner) and it promised to be an exciting day with classes for novice drivers, vintage vehicles, pleasure and show carriages, plus the chance to qualify for the Osbourne Refrigerators BDS National Championships.
A warm and enthusiastic welcome awaited us when we arrived at Blandings Farm, Farnham. After setting up our equipment in a prime location for video capture and stills photography, we took the opportunity to meet the judges and some of the competitors.
The whole show ran like clockwork, with the judges,stewards and organisers doing a fantastic job.The horses, carriages and drivers were a credit to the sport, all of them being turned out to a very high standard. Despite the competitive aspect the show had a friendly and comfortable feel to it.
This years show included two new classes -
The Vintage Vehicles Pre 1940 - during this class all the vehicles drove around the arena together, with no individual showing, it was great to see and provided excellent video footage.
Driving Skills Class - this was an open class, and whilst it is definitely a "work in progress" at the moment, it was completed with much hilarity amongst competitors, judges and spectators. This is bound to develop into a favourite
Despite having taken wet weather gear, the weather was lovely, with the rain only starting as we pulled away from the site.
We took over 1,000 images, standard shots and my favourite type, the "candid", and having had a sneak preview already we have some great shots.
With over 25 videos to go through we are going to be busy, as well as the hard job of choosing which photos to showcase.