The 22nd BASC Gamekeepers’ Fair, 17th & 18th April 2010
Food producers from across the Midlands showed off their wares at the 22nd Gamekeepers’ Fair. This year’s fair featured for the first time a food hall showcasing local and national producers and suppliers of high quality food and drink. The food hall was packed out for the duration of the two day event attended by 12,000 visitors. Midlands producers which had stalls at the fair included Bittersweet Chocloates, Taste of the Moorlands, Just Oil Ltd, Littleover Apiaries, Mr Pictchfork’s Pickles, Brocklebys, Bluebell Dairy Ltd and Azorieblue.
The new food hall also promoted BASC’s Game’s On campaign. BASC has been promoting game as a healthy, sustainable and highly nutritious food since the mid 1960s and in 2005 we created the Game’s On campaign to focus on increasing and sustaining the appreciation by the general public of wild game as local, healthy and nutritious food.
BASC has created a website at www.gameson.org.uk (or via the BASC main website) and has distributed more than 500,000 high-quality recipe leaflets over the past five years through a network of game fairs and game tasting events and through game dealers and their customers.
Chef Stephen Cardwell demonstrated a variety of ways of cooking pigeon, rabbit and venison. The meat used was provided by Shropshire-based Willo Game. Visitors enjoyed sampling the various dishes supplied and many of them tried their first taste of game. Next year’s food hall will build on the success of this year’s and it is hoped celebrity chef Mike Robinson will attend to promote the great taste of game.
Crowds soaked up the sunshine as they watched displays, browsed stalls and took part in events at the fair. Another new attraction at this year’s event also proved to be huge success. Stalking 2010 – a dedicated deer stalking and management village, sponsored by Bushwear, proved to be popular and was also packed out for the duration of the fair.
Displays included historic firearms, pigeon shooting, decoying and falconry. There were gundog demonstrations, terrier racing, chainsaw wood carving and lumberjack displays. BASC qualified shotgun coaches gave 129 clay shooting lessons and there were competitions for stick dressing, gundogs and pigeon plucking. There were also craft and antique marquees. In total, more than 200 traders too part. Chudleys dog food sponsored gundog scurries at the event and there were lurcher and terrier shows, clay shooting competitions, helicopter pleasure flights and lots to do for children.