Durham County Show

First formed in 1841, the popular Durham County Show at Lambton Park, Chester-le-Street, is still going strong in the 1960s. Known at the time as “Heathcliff on horseback”, show jumping rebel Harvey Smith pulls in a big crowd. In addition to celebrities, visitors are drawn to exciting trade stands and displays: a live bear cub at the PDSA, fancy pigeons and falconry, frisky foxhounds, and a championship whippet race staged by show sponsors, Vaux Breweries.

A Cleveland camera woman, Betty Cook, is well positioned to film handsome Harvey Smith prowling the show ground on horseback. Son of a Yorkshire builder, the champion rider was stripped of his winnings and major British Show Jumping Derby title later in 1971 for allegedly flashing a ‘V-sign’ at the judges, although the disqualification was reversed two days later due to the public’s support. Middlesbrough-based amateur filmmaker Betty Cook was the President of the Cleveland Cine Society and the North East Cine Society and captured many events in the north east region from the 1960’s through to the 1980s.