A veteran Norfolk horseman who attended every Aylsham Show for more than 70 years has died at the age of 83.
Derek Spanton, of Smallburgh, near Stalham, had a lifelong passion for heavy horses and, along with his cherished Shires, he was presented to the Queen at Windsor in 2005 and to the former Prince of Wales, now King Charles, in 2003.
He visited the Aylsham Show for the first time when he was about 12 years old, arriving at the town’s Recreation Ground with his family by horse and cart in the early 1950s.
And his horses were the stars when he took the reins at the event’s 75th anniversary pageant, which was staged in Blickling Park last August before a record grand ring crowd.
He “lived for his horses”, said retiring show chairman Mike Gamble.
Derek Arthur Spanton was born in Sloley and went to the village school and then to North Walsham. He worked for 45 years as a driver for Eastern Electricity - but heavy horses were always his first love.
His family had worked heavy horses for more than a century. He helped his grandfather, who lived at Sloley and worked for Norfolk County Council, to cart gravel by horse and cart from the beaches at Mundesley and Bacton to be used for road-making.
His father, Jim, delivered milk with a pony and trap while a coal merchant uncle, Oscar Peek-Vout, used horses from nearby Worstead station yard. On his uncle’s death, Derek inherited harness, tack and some land – so in 1988, he bought his first horse, a Shire called Jim.
He forged a lasting partnership with Woodforde’s Brewery, based in Woodbastwick, after being approached by its then head Ray Ashworth in 1994. He had restored a dray – owned by his uncle - which had been stored in a barn at Worstead by the late Gavin Paterson.
It was used to supply the re-opened Woodforde’s pub, the Billy Bluelight in Norwich, and so he became the brewery’s “flagship ambassador” for the next quarter of a century.
In 2005, he was one of six teams of brewery horses to parade before the Queen at Windsor. Heidi Hannant, who helped him for the past 20 years, also joined those presentations and now looks after his retired veteran Shire, named Herbie.
Always willing to promote Shires and heavy horses, he took part in hundreds of events across the region, and collections of trophies and rosettes from his successful showing career filled rooms at his Smallburgh home.
Chris Self, heavy horse head steward for the Royal Norfolk Show, and also former Aylsham Show secretary, said: “He was always supportive of showing classes and was respected by all in the heavy horse world."
Mr Spanton died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on December 16. He leaves a brother, Michael.
A Suffolk Punch, named Gifford, driven by his former groom, Karen White, will pull the dray with his coffin to the funeral service at St Batholomew’s Church, Sloley, on Friday, January 19 at 2pm.
Donations can be made to Cancer Research UK. Further details from Gordon Haynes Independent Funeral Directors, North Walsham.
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