This is a second-hand copy of the book ShowTime - The A&P Show for All New Zealanders by Stephen Robinson.
Foreword by The Topp Twins & Bonus DVD
Condition: This is a used book in very good condition.
Publisher: PQ Blackwell
Year: 2016
ISBN: 9780473362386
Format: Hardback
Pages: 224
Condition: Used (Very Good)
ONCE DEEPLY RURAL, New Zealand has now fully embraced urban living, often to the detriment of the regions. The good old Agricultural & Pastoral (A&P) show is seemingly one of the last bastions of our rural past, offering city folk the opportunity to get up close and personal with farm animals, connect with the bucolic idyll, and experience Kiwi culture at its finest.
Almost no one knows A&P shows and our agricultural heritage better than the eponymous Topp Twins, who have been attending them their whole lives. As Jools and Lynda write in their Foreword to Show Time: The A&P Show for all New Zealanders, “An affirmation of the rural way of life and a celebration of heartland New Zealand, A&P shows give people the opportunity to be recognised for what they’re good at, whether it’s growing vegetables, making pikelets, raising calves, chopping wood or shearing sheep.”
The A&P show has been part of the New Zealand landscape for some 150 years, celebrating and showcasing the talents of rural communities. Traditionally, a family day out to check out the latest farm machinery, the A&P show was also an opportunity to compete in sheep shearing, wood chopping, bake-offs, and animal shows. Bring on the hot dogs and candy floss, as children, women and men gathered for fun and frolics outdoors.
High-profile photographer Stephen Robinson spent four years travelling the length and breadth of New Zealand, to capture the magic of our still flourishing and prolific A&P shows. There are some four shows happening on any given weekend in the North and South Islands. Stephen has a quirky and observant eye, and his images are full of authenticity. You couldn’t hope to find a more vital, humorous, charming, memorable record of today’s A&P show than that found within the pages of Show Time.
