Community & Business
22 February, 2024
Adele’s a woman with plenty of staying power
Presidents and committee members have come and gone but Clifton Show Society secretary Adele Saville has been a constant at the annual event for forty years and that achievement was formally recognised during the official lunch at this year’s Clifton Show.
Mrs Saville took on the role of secretary in 1984 and has been the “go to” person ever since.
She said the experience has been varied with ups and downs across the years, the hardest probably being in 2021 when the Show Society had to abide by strict rules laid down by the State Government as a result of the Covid pandemic.
A year later as the pandemic continued, there was no show at all.
Mrs Saville has also been heavily involved with the Darling Downs Sub-Chamber of Agricultural Societies, most notably as co-ordinator of the annual Regional Showgirl competition from which winners represent the Downs at the annual State judging during the Ekka in Brisbane.
In response to the recognition of her services, Mrs Saville said, “I could not have done this time without the support of my family some great friends and the members of the Clifton Show Society.”
On Saturday, a Vice President of the Clifton Show Society, Ashley Gillam was seconded by president Haydn O’Leary to make a presentation to Mrs Saville, Mr Gillam having worked with her on the show for many years.
On behalf of the Society, he presented her with a red rose, in recognition of her ruby anniversary (40 years) in the role.
The variety was a Black Forest Floribunda Rose.
The gift was also quite fitting because Mrs Saville is a keen gardener and has been heavily involved in organising the annual Iris and Rose Show staged during Country Week in Clifton.
Show Society president Haydn O’Leary was satisfied with the success of this year’s Clifton Show.
One welcome factor was the weather.
Despite a few showers in the district on Friday, the sun shone without being excessively hot and there was a breeze to help the comfort level.
“We were pretty happy with how it all went,” Mr O’Leary said.
“Obviously it was a bit hard without the rodeo but we like to change the programme each year.”
He said entries were generally good.
Something like 170 Stud Cattle were exhibited and there was a large number of horses in the ring on Saturday.
Mr O’Leary said horse numbers were down on Sunday but it appeared that quite a few people were headed south for the Canberra Show.
He said some of the regular volunteers were not able to make the show this time, however it was great to see a lot of others from the community come forward, a number of whom were not familiar faces.
Mr O’Leary thanked the volunteers, the sponsors and exhibitors.
He said these, along with the many patrons are great contributors to the success of our annual show.
And if you had an entry in the Guess the Weight of the Beast competition, here’s the answer: it weighed 535kg.
The winning guess was submitted by John Dunn.
The Whip Raffle resulted in a win for Charlie May with Sue Hawke taking second prize.
