Issue 441 – Westbury’s royal seal of approval

WESTBURY’s Mayor cllr Sue Ezra rubbed shoulders with royalty recently when she entertained Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at the West Wilts Show.
Cllr Ezra guided the duchess around the town’s marquee after the three-day show was officially opened by the Duchess of Cornwall on Thursday 23rd July.
“It was nice that she showed an interest and she visited all the five towns‘ marquees,” said cllr Ezra who found the duchess “pleasant and genuinely interested” in the organisations who had set up stalls in the Westbury marquee.
The duchess took the time to do a spot of shopping while in the Westbury marquee, picking up a pot from the town’s own White Horse Pottery.
Nathan Pictor, 17, son of pottery owner Trevor Pictor, sold the duchess a blue jug.
Nathan said he’d enjoyed meeting the duchess and was honoured to have sold his wares to her, but revealed how it almost didn’t happen: “The jug was one we’ve been trying to get rid of for ages,” said Nathan. “It was the only one of that type we had left and we nearly didn’t bring it!”
Nathan said he was hoping the duchess might pay a visit to the pottery in the future as she had inquired where she might find more of their goods.
The Duchess of Cornwall also spent some time catching up with monumental mason Nick Johnson, whose company Young Johnson Limited is currently working on a memorial for soldiers killed in service for the country which will be installed in London.
Although the show was heralded as yet another great success, its future remains shrouded in uncertainty as the event was historically funded by the now defunct West Wilts District Council.
A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said that the cabinet was likely to make a decision in the autumn as to whether to continue funding for the show, which first took place in 1989.
Since then, the show has grown into the biggest free-entry business and community event in the region, which, every two years, brings an average of around 80,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors over the three days.