Cracking day to win a prize; Vicky's egg is best at Slaley Show.

Byline: Tony Henderson

HARD-boiled judge Peter Christon was looking for high standards from poultry and egg competitors at a Northumberland village show at the weekend.

But after running the rule over entries in the 150th Slaley Show, he softened as he voiced his fears that the white egg is on the way out - along with the breed of hens which lay them.

Peter said that the preference of shoppers for brown eggs meant that was what producers concentrated on supplying.

"Supermarkets can't sell white eggs and so they don't stock them," said Peter. "They won't entertain white eggs because there is no sale for them. They have to go with public demand.

"Although it doesn't make any difference whether an egg is white or brown, people think that brown eggs look more appealing."

He said that the brown bias was threatening breeds of hens which laid white eggs, such as the white and black leghorn.

"Thirty years ago leghorns were quite common but now commer-ciallthey are almost extinct," said Peter, who played professional football as a goalkeeper with Middlesbrough from 1949-53.

"You get a few breeders who keep them for showing. Leghorns are good layers but they are disappearing because people don't want white eggs.

"But generally poultry keeping is becoming more popular as people want their own fresh eggs."

The 150th show was a major success, with around 2,500 entries for a huge variety of classes and 3,000 visitors.

And poultry keeper Vicky Pepys was cock-a-hoop after at last tasting success in the egg classes. Slaley villager Vicky is secretary of the poultry section of the event, which was reintroduced nine years ago to mark the millennium show.

At the weekend event Vicky finally cracked it with her three brown bantam's eggs which were judged the best of 50 eggs in the show. The eggs were judged on uniformity of shape and colour, and the strength and blemish-free quality of the their shells.

Now the egg cup will grace Vicky's home for the next year.

"I can't believe it, I've never won the egg cup before," said Vicky, who gave full credit to her 18-week-old bantam Christine, who produced the goods and was given a special feed of sweet corn as a reward.

Today Vicky was planning to use the winning eggs to create a special breakfast dish of kedgeree.

CAPTION(S):

EVERYONE'S A WINNER AT SLALEY Vicky Pepys, with the winning egg in the Large Brown Egg class. Below, Toby Jowett, five, Hugo Lutz-Atkinson, seven, Ben Jowett, seven, and Max Lutz-Atkinson, five, enjoy their day out. HAVING A GREAT TIME Aimee Tweddle, four, and Charlotte Tweddle, seven.