Fettercairn Farmers Club Show

History of the Fettercairn Show

Based on a speech by Jim Brown MBE

At Fettercairn we help to perpetuate an event that was first held in 1826.  It was founded by a local laird, Thomas Ramsay of Balbegno, who gathered the leading young men and farmers to form a target shooting club which in 1826 developed into the Fettercairn Farmers Club.  However, they had got their priorities right and had founded a Distillery in the village two years before, as well as a church some 23 years earlier.

The FFC did not merely hold a Show – they took an active interest in farming education and set up an agricultural library in the village.  The Clubs AGM in the village hall was addressed by some leading academics most notably Sir John Boyd Orr, The Director General of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

To give you some idea of our vintage… the first Highland Show was held in 1822 just four years before Fettercairn. The North East Show age table then reads:

The Black Isle Show 1836

Echt Show 1853

Turriff Show 1864

New Deer Show also around 1864

Keith Show 1872

Tarland Show around 1900.

Many shows have folded over the years including Ellon, Elgin and the Kincardineshire Show (which used to be held in alternate years in Stonehaven, Banchory and Laurencekirk - the Banchory would be an off shoot of that circuit). The Angus Show was also on a circuit of the main Angus Towns but is now resident in Brechin.

The number of shows indicates the immense amount of completely voluntary effort that has been expended by farming communities over hundreds of years to sustain all of these events.

Fettercairn used to be a confined show when so many famous herds of pedigree and commercial cattle, flocks of commercial and pedigree sheep and riding ponies in big numbers were in our catchment area. As numbers have diminished we have diversified to become an open show and thus competitors are welcomed from near and far.

Today many one-day public events, organised at great expense, are held up as iconic experiences and they impinge on events such as ours. The Fettercairn Farmers Club are still dedicated to bringing the traditions of our area to life each year and we look forward to welcoming old friends and new to our Annual Show.