Thousands enjoy bantam show

Attendance was up this year at The Bantam Classic Poultry Show, which was held in Newbury on Saturday

THOUSANDS of visitors descended on a Newbury leisure centre to see a large display of bantams at the weekend.

The Bantam Classic Poultry Show, hosted by the Reading and District Bantam Society, was held at Northcroft Leisure Centre and featured more than 2,000 birds and eggs.

Show secretary, Les Griffiths, said the show was unique as it was a bantam only show where normally, there would be all types of chickens.

He said that it was the biggest bantam show in the whole of Great Britain.

"Attendance was up on last year - it was up a lot,” he said.

"It went very well, we had a lot of rare birds here as well."

Judging sections on the day included hard feather, soft feather, rare poultry and German Langshan.

Max Griffiths, aged nine, was exhibiting his bantam on the day and said: "I like coming to the shows because they are fun."

One of the judges on the day, Mike Hatch, from Chieveley, said "There were some nice birds, which was pleasing to see."