On Cloud Nine in Lambeth
Lambeth Country Show/Andrew Moreton/flickr
One of my favourite events of the year is drawing close: the Lambeth Country Show. If you wonder how it’s possible to have a country show in gritty Lambeth, rest assured that the country show bit is only the half of it. It’s got all the produce (including novelty veg arrangements – see picture), floral displays and farm animals that you could wish for, plus a funfair, masses of food stalls, an extraordinary range of acts on the Village Green music stage, crafts, jumble, jousting, charity stalls, falconry . . . (OK, if it’s combine harvesters you’re after, I admit you may be disappointed.)
For the two days that it’s on, the Lambeth Country Show is the closest we are likely to come to heaven on earth. Think Imagine realised before your very eyes: ‘. . . all the people living life in peace’; think Unicef logo of folded paper cut-out children of all nations holding hands; think small-scale prelapsarian Woodstock. For people of all ages, races, faiths, classes and abilities come to the Lambeth Country Show, and the sense of everyone enjoying being out and about with their fellow human beings is palpable – even when it rains.
Over the years I’ve attended the Lambeth Country Show in different roles. As a parent, I was aghast when my son decided at the top of the tallest bouncy slide that he didn’t want to come down, and it began to collapse as children piled up behind him. As a volunteer, I hung out on the Friends of Brockwell Park stall; I wasn’t much good as a recruiting officer, but I had some fascinating conversations, particularly with long-time residents of the area.
Hard work at the farm zone/Loz Pycock/flickr
Nowadays, untroubled by the prospect of infants dropping off inflatables, I can linger as long as I like at the silver stalls and clothes rails – the show seems to be the only place in London where you can still buy cheesecloth on the open market. Who knows, next year I might even attend as the proud creator of a winning veg sculpture.
There is a police presence, but it’s very light touch. The coppers seem to be enjoying it as much as everyone else and are not above having the odd ice cream. Lambeth Council, as you’d expect has a huge presence, encouraging us to be greener, healthier and more neighbourly. Following feedback from Lambethans, it’s promising more loos, more local talent and more shelter, among other things. And it’s still free!
I’ll be among the dozens heading home across Brockwell Park as the shadows lengthen, the drumming from the music stage fades and wisps of smoke from the barbecues drift across the crowds. With any luck I’ll be clutching a bag full of local honey and the feathery fronds of the achillea I’ve bought from the plant stall. Who says you can’t have a country show in the city?