Remembering the Hadleigh Show from 1979

A number of events are on offer every year at the Hadleigh Show (Image: Archant)

Guests to the 1979 event – which marked nearly 140 years since it was first established – wore riding hats to compete in donkey races.

The winner of one of the donkey derbies crosses the line (Image: Archant)

The club started the show to promote good farming just two years after an agricultural depression swept through Britain in 1838.

The owner of a prize winning horse receives his award (Image: Archant)

Across the UK, poor conditions had led to heavy soil being abandoned while rot had led to sheep and other livestock being killed.

The Hadleigh Show is a great day out for all of the family (Image: Archant)

Crops were depleted and Corn Laws brought in during the 1840s meant the price of wheat was high so the poor could not afford bread.

One of the prize winners at the 1979 show (Image: Archant)

The first Hadleigh Show kicked off in 1840 – and it is now one of the few surviving small town agricultural shows in the UK.

The Hadleigh Show remains a much-loved event today (Image: Archant)

These photographs capture the delight the show brings to youngsters and adults alike – and its belief in the industry.