Are you old enough to remember the 1970s? Are you familiar with the county and equestrian show circuit? Maybe you can help me identify where, and possibly when these pieces of footage were filmed.

Recently, I’ve undertaken the project of digitising and cataloguing our entire family archive, comprising over 40,000 photographs and dozens of cine reels and camcorder tapes. If you’ve done anything like this before, you’ll know it’s often rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. Earlier this year, I found someone in Warrington to convert the old footage and started the process. The first tranche of conversion was the 20-odd cine reels, covering the period from about 1970 to about 1985.

As you’d expect, there’s a steady succession of weddings, birthdays, Christmases and holidays but amongst the ‘special events’ that were usually the precursor for home filming, back then, a few other occasions were committed to celluloid: “work” occasions.

At that time (and we believe the year to be 1976), my Dad was busily growing his business, Robinsons Saddlery, and it involved him exhibiting at all the major shows on the agricultural circuit. And that’s where the difficulty lies: to the untrained eye, a lot of these Showgrounds look the same – especially so almost fifty years later. Of course, we have thoughts and clues but we can’t be certain. But maybe you can be…

Unknown Show 1

In this 1’16” clip, you can see the Robinsons stand set up across from a white post and rail fence, across from what appears to be one of the show rings. You can see a large collection of stables behind my Grandma as she walks back to the stand. A horse’s head helpfully suggests they’re stables and not cattle sheds. In the main ring, a (presumably local) hunt group parades around, followed by a succession of heavy horses, ponies and cattle. Obviously, this would have been the case at any show so there’s little in the ring to identify which show this was. The clues exist in the shape of the buildings, the orientation of the tents and the presence of trees, particularly the very unusually-shaped tree which is visible at 1’32”. Sadly old cine film does not offer the kind of resolution we’d need, to zoom in and gain other clues like the wording on the signage. Can you recognise anything in this footage to help us ‘place’ where it was?

Unknown Show 2

I think this is the Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park, near Coventry. I’ve exhibited and stayed there myself and I’m reasonably confident that it’s on Avenue M – but you may know better. Another clue is that after 2’14”, you can see a show jumper walking the course, striding out his distances. We all reckon this is Harvey Smith – a big enough seventies celebrity to warrant using up a few inches of cine film. And then from 3’36”, you see the entrance of the Duchess of Kent, suggesting a connection between the event and a ‘Royal’ patronage. It also reminds us that we’ve always wanted to capture our brief brushes with celebrity in some way – only the technology has changed.

Unknown Show 3

We don’t think this is a county show. Firstly, we’d sponsored a fence and that was probably a bit too expensive for anything beyond a local show. Secondly, some of the people shown are friends and local riders but it still seems to be at a level above ‘grass roots’. And the location is not visibly one of the regular local shows we used to attend. Could it be the Royal Lancashire Show?

Unknown Show 4

On the face of it, this seems like an easier task. I recently found a still photograph that shows my grandparents applauding as Princess Anne and her then husband Captain Mark Phillips walk past. On the reverse, my Grandma had written “Bath & West Show, 1976”. As you can see from the photo below, the Royal couple are wearing exactly the same outfits as in the video above, which strongly suggests the time and the place are known. But what if my Grandma was mistaken when she wrote that caption? A Google image search for “princess anne bath and west show 1976” returns only images from 1968 and 1969. Does the footage look like it was taken at the showground at Shepton Mallett? Or do we need to think again?

Unknown Show 5

Finally, we have this show with its stripe-roofed grandstand. My first thought was Badminton but as the video plays on, I became less sure. Firstly, at 0’35”, you see a stunt display in the ring, featuring cossack-type riding. I’m not sure Badminton ever went in for that kind of crowd-pleasing, showy entertainment, in those days, that you would see at county shows. I’m also not sure that there would be as many tents visible from the main ring at Badminton. I’m also surprised to see someone who looks suspiciously like my Grandma presenting prizes in the ring, at 1’53”. I know she was very persuasive but I’m not sure that even she could have elevated herself to that level of VIP status at Badminton Horse Trials. But most significantly, at 2’20”, as the horses and riders embark on their parade lap of the ring, there appears to be a castle in the background. What shows take place in the shadow of a castle? Windsor? That would be as doubtful as Badminton, I think. But what do you think?

Thanks for all your help with this project. Please make any suggestions or observations in the comments below – or reach me via the socials. We appreciate any insight you can bring.