Sheep shearing history at Royal Bath & West Show Sheep shearing history will be made at this year’s Royal Bath & West Show, with the winner of the inaugural event returning to cheer on the 50th Golden Shears Open champion.

Ian (Scotty) Stewart, who won the first Golden Shears Open event at the show in 1964, has competed all over the globe, and says that competition shearing has done much to raise the overall standard of sheep shearing. “Good clean shearing, without damage to sheep or wool, remains the first and overriding priority,” he says. “Speed is only a bonus when the quality is there.”

Around 150 shearers will compete for the top prize, with the show featuring shearing and wool spinning demonstrations, all grades of shearing and the professional pinnacle - the Golden Shears Open and the English National Competitions. Each year around 1500 sheep are shorn at the show, with many professionals taking less than 45 seconds per animal.

When Ian first won the competition, the prize money was an astonishing £100; 10 times the average weekly wage. But while the prize fund may have diminished in real terms over the past 50 years, the prestige of winning the Golden Shears championship remains as great as ever.

Today, many shearers follow in the same footsteps as Ian, travelling between New Zealand and the UK to meet the seasonal demand. Born in Scotland in 1937, Ian emigrated to New Zealand with his family at the age of 16. First working as a shepherd and woolhandler, he turned to shearing in 1960. Returning to the UK in 1961 – the year of the first Golden Shears competition in New Zealand - he worked in shearing across the UK, and won the inaugural Golden Shears competition at the Bath & West Show in Swindon in 1964, when it was still a travelling show.

“The wet weather was my most vivid memory, with the judges in white coats and wellington boots,” he says. Taffy Evans was placed in second, with 1965 winner Les Ramsdon in third. Bob Chamberlain, then president of the Golden Shears in Masterton, New Zealand, also attended, and remembers: “A very successful venture dampened only by the atrocious weather just prior to and during the show.”

During his shearing life in New Zealand, Ian has been a tireless worker for Golden Shears, Masterton since it began. He was chief referee at Golden Shears NZ for over 20 years – during which time the event became a national sensation, eventually leading to the second World Championships in 1980, following the inaugural World Championship at the Bath & West Show in 1977. He was also vice-president of Golden Shears in the early 1990s, and was clerk of works in charge of transforming two historic woolsheds into the Shear Discovery Museum in Masterton.

Ian returned to Royal Bath & West Show as a judge in 1984 and 1992 for the Golden Shears World Championships, held at Shepton Mallet, and is once again looking forward to his return this year. “Shearing standards have improved so much over the past 50 years, and the competition is a lot more difficult to win now,” he says. “Competition shearing has improved the standard of general shearing worldwide, which ultimately benefits the fleece and sheep, which is what it’s really all about.”

• The Royal Bath & West Show will be held from 28-31 May. Tickets are available online at www.bathandwest.com or by calling 01749 822200.

Black and white photo caption: Ian Stewart (right) being presented the Lister Trophy by the New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir Thomas MacDonald (middle), with Mr John Colfox, Bath & West Chief Steward of Sheep Shearing (left). In the background (with hat) is Bob Chamberlain, then President of Golden Shears, Masterton.