It may have been the first time Roddy Kidd had picked up a handpiece in 25 years — but the 84-year-old reckoned it was just like riding a bike.
"Mentally, you know what you are doing, but physically you are a bit rusty," Mr Kidd, of Oxford, said during a shearing demonstration at the recent Oxford A&P Show.
The demonstration featured two other shearers who, like Mr Kidd, shore at the first Oxford A&P Show competition in 1971, former Kaikoura MP and three time Golden Shears winner Colin King and Oxford local Allan Thompson.
Mr Kidd finished the long blow on his sheep, but decided not to tempt fate and swing his leg over his sheep to move on to its last side, handing over to Mr Thompson to finish the job.
Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) president Brent Snellex, of Sefton, near Rangiora, was pleased to be able to attend the Oxford and Mackenzie Highland A&P shows over Easter weekend.
"For a number of shows, when it came to springtime they obviously had the uncertainty of Covid and whether they could run or not, and clearly for the bigger shows they have quite a lot of expenses leading up to a show and a number made the call not to proceed.
"As we’ve moved through to autumn obviously things have worked out a lot better for the A&P shows and here at Oxford today there’s a good turnout from everybody and it’s great for the local community."
Oxford and Mackenzie were among six South Island shows cancelled in autumn last year as the country headed into lockdown.
Among the shows cancelled last year was the Hawke’s Bay Royal Show in October, with the Oxford A&P Show chosen to host the RAS young judges’ and handlers’ competitions in its absence, which would normally select winners to compete in a transtasman competition.
"We are delighted we are able to continue and that Oxford has been able to host it," Mr Snellex said.
"The winners from 2019 haven’t able to head to Australia because of Covid and it’s been a difficult time.
"Australia has had their issues and at some stage it would nice to cross the Tasman, but that’s a bit uncertain at this point."
