The Canterbury A&P Show – gotta be there!

Meeting the animals at Canterbury's A&P Show

It’s a Canterbury tradition, isn’t it? Every year we’re up at sparrows on Show Day. We bundle the kids into the car and head to the showgrounds munching marmite on toast as we go.

 

There’s always a queue. We bump over the paddocks and get mixed messages from people waving orange flags. We park, slap on sunblock and head to the entrance pockets jangling.

The animals are happiest early in the day. The rides are best before lunch. The nor’wester arrives at noon along with the chips and hot dogs. We buy up Christmas presents at the stalls before we leave exhausted, sunburnt and full of memories. The A&P Show is what Canterbury’s all about. Brilliant!

Necrology, October 2010

Necrology – a list of notable people who have died recently

Melvin Brieseman, 1934-2010
Canterbury Medical Officer of Health for 30 years
Solomon Burke, 1940-2010
Soul singer, evangelist and undertaker whose music career was revitalised in the new millennium
Stephen Cannell, 1941-2010
Writer, producer and director who brought his subversive gifts to The Rockford Files and The A-Team
Philippa Foot, 1920-2010
Philosopher who challenged the notion of moral relativism and addressed the hot topic of medical ethics
Eva Ibbotson, 1925-2010
Children’s author of magical adventure stories who drew on her memories of life as a refugee
Simon MacCorkindale, 1952-2010
Actor who specialised in roguish charmers and was once hailed as the new Errol Flynn
Benoit Mandelbrot, 1924-2010
Mathematician and father of fractal theory who developed a new way of looking at the world
John Masters, 1934-2010
Christchurch war hero
Claire Rayner, 1931-2010
Writer, broadcaster and agony aunt who drew on her own experiences to tackle every topic with matronly assurance
Brian Southam, 1931-2010
Publisher and leading expert on the work of Jane Austen who authenticated the author’s only known play
Joseph Stein, 1912-2010
Social worker who became a Broadway writer and turned a set of Jewish stories into Fiddler on the Roof
Joan Sutherland, 1926-2010
One of the most celebrated opera singers of all time
Norman Wisdom, 1915-2010
Britain’s most successful screen comic after Chaplin, whose slapstick talents won him affection around the world