Men of Wight were invited to perform at the 2024 Overton Sheep Fair in July.  The fair is only run every 4 years.  Overton is just North of Winchester so not far for us to travel.

The Overton Sheep Fair dates back to the 13th Century, when sheep drovers from across the district brought their livestock to be seen and sold in the village.  The 21st century fair requires a section of the main road though the town to be closed for the weekend, to enable an array of stalls and performance spaces to occupy the street.  

We were booked for the weekend so staying over was an essential part of the plan and the organisers arranged for us to stay at the Community Sports Centre - which came with it’s own unique issues, but we won’t dwell on those.

Saturday morning saw the main feature for the fair - the running of the sheep through the street (well, it is a sheep fair).  That was over in a flash as there were only 6 sheep involved, who were chased by a Landrover with a trailer attached.

The rest of the weekend saw a great variety of entertainment including stilt walkers, a juggling uni-cycle rider (who did an escape act whilst on the uni-cycle), choirs, bands,  an excellent Mumming Play, Basingclog Morris dancers,  Mayfly Morris Dancers, a pair of Ostriches and loads more.

We danced all weekend, 4 or 5 stops each day, even joined in the processions on Sunday but regretfully we don’t appear in any of the photos or credits on their Facebook page.

We had a great time, sampled the ale at various pubs (The Old House at Home was probably our favourite, followed by the Red Lion where we received great hospitality.)

Our thanks to the organisers and yes, we’d love to do it again!