Main Arena Events
2024 Main Arena Timetable will be published in the official Show Programme available to purchase at the show from one of the programme stands. Timetable of events will also be posted and available to view at each arena. Line-up for all displays will be the same Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April 2024 apart from the ‘white Woofers’ Hound Parade which will take place at 5:30pm Sat 27th and 9:15am Sun 28th. All other timings are the same on both days. Programme subject to change.
The Squibb Freestyle Team
Headlining the Main Arena this year are The Squibb Freestyle Team. Back by popular demand they will be performing twice per day on both Sat 27th & Sun 28th!
The Squibb Freestyle Team will jump their motorcycles 40 feet high in the air over a distance of 75 feet and whilst airborne will perform acrobatic manoeuvres and even backflip the motorcycle.
Don’t miss this spectacular show in the Main Arena!
The Dog & Duck Show
The Official Dog and Duck Show was the original creation of Stuart Barnes, the Dog Behaviourist. Stuart was known as the Animal Kid during his years growing up on the South Island of New Zealand. He had more pets then he could count, from possums to magpies and many more homeless species, all living in and around the house. With a large number in the closets and drawers of his bedroom!
At the age of 15, he became a shepherd with 15 sheep dogs and 4 horses of his own. This experience became the foundation for his training as he was able to watch how they communicated with each other during their months alone in the remote outback.
Now, Stuart has used this vast animal behaviour experience to develop the Dog and Duck Show and to train an amazing team who present shows all over the UK in the summer season. During the demonstrations, his phenomenal team travel the UK replicating his methods to entertain whilst educating people, all in a humorous Kiwi style.
This show demonstrates how untrained and poorly behaved dogs still have a programmed natural instinct, and helps the audience to understand domesticated animals and their behaviours, and how animals work as a pack and communicate with each other.
Hywel Morgan
World and European Casting Champion, Hywel Morgan will be entertaining crowds with a Fly Fishing demo in the Main Arena. Hywel first stepped onto a casting platform at just 4 years old. Since the age of 14 he has regularly given demos at shows all over the UK. He is the only World Fly Casting Champion who demonstrates and has developed a wonderfully relaxed and humorous way of informing and educating the audience about the fascinating world of Fly Fishing. Hywel will also offer ‘have a go’ fly tying and casting tuition and demos on the Black Bourne River.
Horseboarding UK Championships
“Somewhere between scurry racing and wake boarding” describes Arena Boarding. Teams take on the clock around a course of gates, set to challenge the best boarders and horse riders, from long straights into sweeping bends and ninety degree turns. In terms of motorsport it is more like rallying or Formula 1. Teams have to work together to achieve the right racing line to take the bends and complete the course.
New board technology has meant that board riders can get more grip in the corners, but as the track gets scrubbed out, you will still see them power sliding round the bends kicking up dust like a rally car. This part of the sport has become so technical that board set-up, and even tyre choice has become critical. The teams push their boards to the limit as they fight it out, trying to shave 100ths of a second off their times. As will always happen, when sportsmen push themselves and their equipment to the limit, sometimes they find the edge. Crashes are frequent,- with the teams’ motto seeming to be “we will not win by going slower.”
An absolute must-see spectacle – you will not be able to take your eyes off it, as teams achieving already unbelievable speeds, get faster with each race.
Mid Norfolk Gun Dogs
The Mid Norfolk Gundog Club was formed over 25 years ago by a group of friends determined to improve the training, husbandry and breeding of working gundogs as well as the expertise of handlers.
Don’t miss their demo in the Main Arena – A taste of shoot day, demonstrating the different roles of a gundog, from flushing birds, sitting on a peg with a gun, to picking up at the end, with a unique opportunity to photo all the dogs sat up in a line without leads or handlers at the end of the demonstration.
Visitors are also welcome to talk to the Club Members at their stand on 2nd Ave South opposite the Gun Dog Scurry Arena.
British Scurry & Trials Driving
An exciting and family fun entertainment and sport where ponies of all sizes and shapes gallop around an obstacle course as fast as they possibly can! The BSTD was formed in 2012 to encourage drivers and ponies of all abilities to get started in the sport of carriage driving at many types of events nationwide.
From Game Fairs to County Shows and at many Horse Trial Events the BSTD manage to bring some exciting sport and to entertain the audiences to get involved by shouting encouragement to all the competitors even while they drive the tricky courses.
Watch miniature ponies compete against all other sizes of ponies whether they be single, pairs or multiples. They all dash around an obstacle course which is built to bring equality to all the different sizes and experience of pony turnouts entered at each event plus they all have their own classes to do well in too.
Formed by Ivor Williams who is the course designer and builder and Carole Davenport who scores and commentates, you’ll love watching these agile ponies vie to be the fastest turnout around the twisty course. This event is a qualifier for the prestigious BSTD Champion of the Year.
Simon Whitehead – Pakefield Ferrets
Simon Whitehead is a unique character amongst modern day Britain, if not the world. He is one of a small band of people that make their entire living from rabbits. He is a traditional warrener and author of many books which include the acclaimed ‘Ahead of the Game’. This is a book that delves into the history, harvest, preparation and cooking of wild rabbit. This forms the provenance of his demonstrations which are both educational and amusing!
In-between demonstrations Simon, his ferrets and dogs are on hand for interaction with the public and the static display is always a hive of activity as they are many questions to be answered, ferrets to be held and stories to be told. As ferreting is normally carried out in unsociable surroundings and often in solitude, Simon uses the arena demonstrations and static display to explain and illustrate why ferreting in the true sense of the word with ferreter, their ferret’s, dog and nets are fast becoming a more sought-after figure in the countryside and towns of the UK. The ferreter is the epitome of the organic and environmentally friendly hunter/gatherer and as such a supplier of first class organic, free range meat for the table. The world is moving on, technology is changing our society, but it is refreshing to find Simon trying to not only make people realise and understand why we ferret but more importantly, get newcomers into the countryside to continue such a fine tradition.
A raconteur of some repute, Simon can display, demonstrate and educate this traditional craft that has survived the growth in technology, showing why the Pakefield Ferrets motto of “ensuring the tradition of ferreting IS continued for further generations” is long remembered after the show has closed.
Terrier Racing
Once again the Terrier & Lurcher Club will be attending the East Anglian Game Fair. They will be running the very popular Terrier racing in the main arena on Sunday; they shall also be running Terrier & Lurcher racing in the large arena behind their stand throughout the day on the Saturday and early on the Sunday .
Hound Parade
A newly established and family-friendly trail hunt. The Waveney & Norfolk Harriers comprises the ‘White Woofers” who trail across North Norfolk and a Stud Book Harrier pack of hounds who Trail across South Norfolk and Suffolk. They lay trails using a stinky sock, the hounds find and run after it, and the riders follow the hounds!
Watch them in the main arena over the show weekend.
