CHRISTMAS HAS BECOME a season of over indulgence and Dickensian scenes of tables groaning under the weight of turkeys and joints of roast beef are a reminder of the way wealthy families celebrated in Victorian times. 

In those days, freshly slaughtered carcasses of cows, sheep and pigs were hung outside butchers’ shops as an advertisement together with chickens and turkeys, pheasants, partridges, rabbits and hares that had just been shot on nearby estates while large charts adorned the walls inside showing the anatomy of the animals divided into sections with a key indicating the best cuts. But today this is considered unacceptable by the public who prefer their meat, fowl and game offered in sanitised plastic wrapping with no indication as to the source. 

In past times, there were no such niceties and the animals and birds that had been fattened ready for slaughter by local farmers and breeders were paraded for public show and sale at the Christmas Prize Fatstock Show where butchers could bid for the best on offer in readiness for sale at the festive season. 

The show was a feature of farming life in Bourne from the late 19th century, beginning in 1873 when the town had a thriving weekly cattle market and continued for more than 100 years. There had previously been a horse show but the use of horses declined as farms became mechanised and so it was decided to hold an annual fatstock show instead for livestock and game that had been specially reared for the table.  

A glimpse of what the event was like can be gleaned from a local newspaper report published on 17^th December 1886 when there were 230 entries including 68 beasts, 90 sheep, 10 pigs and 62 poultry, and all were bought for good prices and intended for the Christmas trade, the buyers being local butchers and game dealers who usually sold everything they bought in the run up to the festive season at a time when the population of Bourne was only 3,760 (1881 census). 

A second newspaper report from December 23rd the following year shows that meat sold locally was not merely confined to that obtained from the fatstock show: “George Mays, butcher, Eastgate, has killed 300 sheep, two of which have been lately exhibited at the Smithfield Show, one weighing 211 lb, the other 187 lb, and nine beasts. Joseph Williamson, butcher, North Street, has on view one of the prize beasts at the Bourne show. William Mansfield, butcher, Church Street, had a splendid show of fatstock, including a prize beast from Bourne show owned by John Grummitt, farmer, North Fen.” 

The show continued to thrive into the 20th century and an annual dinner serving a mixture of meats became part of the tradition, firstly at the Nag's Head Inn, when it was kept by James Baxter Shilcock, one time show secretary, and later across the road in the long room at the Angel Hotel, where on one occasion, 106 diners consumed 110 bottles of Scotch. These convivial occasions always ended with the singing of Who Killed Cock Robin? 

The event was suspended during the Second World War from 1939-45 and the show’s two magnificent trophies were consigned to the bank vault for safe keeping. The first was the Fred Casswell Champion Cup from 1899, donated by Fred Casswell of Dunsby Fen, to be awarded to the champion beast that year, and when the cup was eventually sold at auction it was bought by the society in memory of the late Bob Wright, a cattle dealer and regular buyer at the show, and renamed the Bob Wright Memorial Cup to be awarded annually.  

The second was a two-handled silver cup on a plinth, dated 1892 and valued at £5,000, donated by Councillor [later Alderman] Thomas Whyment Atkinson, of Haconby, in 1920 to be awarded annually for the best beast in the show.  

The event was resumed in 1954 but its future was threatened with the closure of the cattle market in 1982 and the site became part of the Burghley Centre and car park development. But largely due to the efforts of the late Fred Asher, the show survived and switched to the cattle market at Stamford where it was held annually until the foot and mouth epidemic closed most of the country’s agricultural and fatstock shows in 2001. 

Bourne however continued but instead of the traditional livestock section and auction, the committee held an innovative Lincolnshire sausage and pork pie competition in the Corn Exchange on Thursday 6th December, just a few yards away from the old cattle market site and this was followed by the traditional dinner and presentation of prizes. 

Foot and mouth had devastated farming events throughout the country but officials were determined that the show would go on and instead of the usual livestock classes, competitions were organised for local butchers to show their pork pies and Lincolnshire sausages for which the county is rightly famous and proud. 

But in the summer of 2002, the committee decided at its annual meeting to end the Bourne Christmas Fatstock Show for good, mainly due to the lack of a suitable venue. The cattle market at Stamford had announced earlier in the year that it would not be re-opening after the foot and mouth epidemic and there was no other alternative location available. The show and dinners had been well supported over the years, giving people both inside and outside farming a great deal of pleasure and none more so than the local exhibitors who had helped give the area a reputation for the production of quality livestock. 

The show was wound up with a final meeting at the Angel Hotel on Thursday 18th March 2004 when three long-serving members were honoured with awards for their past work, Geoff Hyde, president of the committee, who had been involved since 1954, being presented with a silver cigarette box, Fred King, the treasurer, who had been involved since 1969, receiving the Bob Wright Memorial Cup, and another trophy, the Bob Mackman Cup, was presented to Elaine Giles who was secretary for many years.