Horse Show cancelled as downpour floods Polegrove

More than 90 riders had pre-booked for this year's Spring Bank Holiday event. Many more had been expected on the day.

But much of the cricket outfield in Polegrove was already flooded by the time committee members arrived for a 6.30 am conference with Rother parks officer Ian Rushforth.

The entrance to the field opposite the Brockley Road-Egerton Road junction was like a lake.

Show secretary Trish Duckworth said: "When we met it was still blowing a howling gale. There was standing water everywhere.

"It was clearly a non-starter. The horse-boxes would have churned up the ground. The horses would have cut it up.

"It would have been too slippery for the horses anyway.

"Ian Rushforth was unhappy about us holding the show and the decision had to be made to cancel it.

"There was no other choice..."

Asked for her comments, Horse Show committee chairman Emily Lawes said: "You couldn't print them!

"Let's say I'm as sick as parrot..."

As volunteers cleared away the last of the jumps ahead of the scheduled 9am start time, she added: "It would have been too dangerous anyway."

Jumping up and down in one of the many areas of standing water, she said: "Look at it! It would not have been worth trying to hold it.

"Planning and preparing for the Horse Show is a year-round job. We have our first meeting on Saturday to start planning for 2009.

"People have still been turning up and we have had to turn them away. It's so annoying."