Visitors that haven’t yet bought tickets for this year’s CLA Game Fair are encouraged to go to the CLA Game Fair website as soon as possible to ensure they benefit from advanced ticket discount prices.

The advance ticket discounts for this year’s event, to be held at Harewood House in Yorkshire from Friday 31 July until Sunday 2 August, ends on at midnight on Monday 20^th July.

Buying advanced tickets via the Game Fair website means visitors can take advantage of significant savings: a one-day adult ticket for the Friday costs just £30 online, giving a £5 saving on the gate price of £35. Advance one-day tickets for Saturday and Sunday cost £25, a saving of £5 on the gate. In addition each adult ticket also allows free entry for a junior visitor up to the age of 16 and free parking, making it superb value for money.

Advance online Adult ticket prices will increase to £34 for Friday and £29 for Saturday or Sunday ensuring purchasing online continues to be worthwhile compared to purchasing on the gate—and of course you will beat the queues!

Two and three-day tickets, which are only available online will remain at a discounted price for the Friday and Saturday or Friday and Sunday costing £50 while a two-day ticket for the Saturday and Sunday is just £45. An adult ticket for all three days is £75. Senior citizens also benefit from reduced prices for advanced tickets.

Tony Wall, Director of the CLA Game Fair commented: “Our advance ticket prices really do offer some great savings which make the CLA Game Fair even better value for money! Buying tickets via our website is both easy and quick so please do go online now. After all why pay more?”

For more detail, visit www.gamefair.co.uk.

The fourth annual Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood opens from Friday 11 September until Sunday 13 September 2015 in The Marquee in the grounds of Harewood House, Harewood, near Leeds in West Yorkshire LS17 9LQ, organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited and supported by Knight Frank’s Harrogate office. Antiques Fair ticket holders will have the added advantage of access to Harewood’s grounds and ‘below stairs’, as well as a special ticket price offer to visit the House’s state rooms and current exhibitions, over the three days of the Fair.  Harewood members will receive free entry to the Fair and free parking. Antiques Fair tickets cost £5 each on the door or in advance.

An exquisite array of fine art and antiques will be for sale, including silver, antiquities, jewellery and watches, paintings, clocks and barometers, glass, traditional and country furniture, books, English and Continental ceramics, contemporary and 19th century sculpture, objets d’art and much more. The majority of the high calibre dealers, convening at The Marquee at Harewood from around the country, are members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association or LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers, the two main UK bodies governing the antiques trade.

Local silver dealers, Jack Shaw & Co from Ilkely offers a wide selection of silver, including pieces made in York: a set of three Victorian meat dishes, £6,750, a seal top spoon, c1650, £1,875 and a George III cruet set, £2,250.  Malka Levine brings an impressive pair of Sheffield plate wine coolers, c1820, priced at £4,800, as well as a pair of Mappin & Webb silver vases, 1925, with a price tag of £1,200.

Olde Time has a diverse collection of clocks and barometers. One highlight is a cast bronze elephant clock surmounted by a figure blowing a shell, 16½” high, c1860, £12,950, possibly by Miroy Frères, Paris.  The elephant’s trunk is raised, which is a sign of good luck, and it stands on an ormolu rococo base.

TV personality and antiques dealer Mike Melody of Melody Antiques, from Chester, deals in oak country furniture, including a matched set of six ash and elm Lancashire  spindle back chairs, c1830,  priced at £1,495 for the set and a late 19th century Orkney  chair, £975.  S&S Timms Antiques has an exceptionally rare Queen Anne period walnut miniature chest on stand, with original brassware, raised on cabriole legs, c1710, £14,500 and a Queen Anne walnut wing back armchair, c1710, £9,500.

With this being the year commemorating the Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago, a Baccarat crystal glass paperweight of bottle form with a sulphide inclusion of Napoleon, c1840

£1,600 is fitting and to be found on Mark J West’s stand. Jewellery and precious objects from T Robert include an 18ct gold and platinum calibrated emerald, diamond and natural pearl Belle Epoque necklace, c1910, £4,450  and  an exceptional lacquer and multi-gem set Shibiyama double sided table screen, c1880, £1,850. Other jewellery specialists exhibiting include Plaza with designer pieces and Anderson Jones.

Paintings include Owen Bowen’s A Yorkshire Farmhouse, £1,850 from Ashleigh House Fine Art. Bowen (1873-1967) studied at Leeds School of Art and was elected to the Staithes Group in 1904. He painted landscapes in and around Leeds and in Northumberland.  Harry Sutton Palmer’s watercolour of River Ure and Vale of Mowbray near Ripon measures 20¼” x 14½” is priced at £3,800 from Baron Fine Art.

In addition, Tim Phelps of T L Phelps Fine Furniture Restoration will be on hand to advise and show examples of his work. Tim Phelps has worked on restoration of Chippendale furniture at Harewood House.  Advisers from Wilson Mitchell & Co Ltd, a partner practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, will be happy to discuss investments with their clients and other interested visitors.

Owen Williams, a renowned wildlife watercolour artist based in west Wales, has won the CLA Game Fair’s third annual Official Show Guide cover competition. His work will now feature on the cover of the 2015 show guide as well as on the contents page which will display Owen’s name, stand number at the show and website address.

The competition was open to all artists that exhibited at last year’s CLA Game Fair and also to those submitting an application for this year’s event, to be held at Harewood House in Yorkshire from Friday 31 July until Sunday 2 August.

Entrants were asked to submit a piece of art in colour that followed a British countryside theme, was influenced by fieldsports or game and which depicted the essence of CLA Game Fair. Judging of the competition was by CLA Director-General Helen Woolley, CLA Game Fair Director Tony Wall, and PR & Marketing Manager, Charlie Thomas.

Owen’s striking watercolour image of a red grouse in flight, which is a detail from a larger work, was picked as the winner thanks to its drama, movement and its unique ‘splash’ style that differs from his traditional sporting landscapes. It was also chosen thanks to its relevance to the 2015 CLA Game Fair’s location in Yorkshire, which has large populations of red grouse on its heather moorlands.

Owen is highly regarded for his fine and atmospheric watercolours portraying animals and birds such as stags, woodcock, grouse and snipe. He is also director of the Woodcock Network and is well known for his work ringing and tagging woodcock on his site in Wales.

Charlie Thomas, PR & Marketing Manager of the CLA Game Fair, commented: “Owen’s superb image of a flying grouse is a very worthy winner of our cover competition. As well as being absolutely stunning it will also give our show guide immense local relevance.”

Owen Williams added: “Having exhibited my work at the CLA Game Fair for the past 30 years it is a great accolade to have been chosen as winner of the competition and I’m very excited about seeing my work in print. For anyone that wants to see the painting in its original form it will be on display on the Redspot Artists stand, along with other examples of my work and that of my fellow Redspot Artists so do come along and say hello!”

For more details, visit www.gamefair.co.uk

On 18^th June 1815, two armies battled in muddy Belgian fields. The Duke of Wellington with the allied British army and Napoleon with the seemingly unstoppable Imperial Guard. Outnumbered, the British forces fought fiercely for their country. Their victory at the Battle of Waterloo represents one of the bloodiest battles in British military history and also one of our most celebrated strategic victories.

3rd Earl of Harewood painted by Francis Grant

The 3^rd Earl of Harewood, Henry Lascelles, was an Ensign, a junior rank of commissioned officer, in the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards and he found himself at the historic battle. Although we don’t know much about his involvement, we know he was injured on 18^th June 1815 and that he received a medal for his part in the events of that day.

6th Earl of Harewood by John St Helier Lander

Almost a century later Europe was plunged into the next brutal chapter of conflict with the outbreak of World War One. It was in France, on the 18^th June 1915, that the 6^th Earl of Harewood, Henry Lascelles, was wounded in battle. A truly amazing coincidence that members of the same family should be injured exactly 100 years apart in two of the most significant wars ever fought in Europe! Henry Lascelles later married to the King’s only daughter, Princess Mary, in 1922 bringing Harewood into the Royal household. They moved to Harewood House in 1929 where they lived for many years raising their family in Yorkshire.

7th Earl of Harewood in WW2 uniform

The 7^th Earl of Harewood, George Lascelles, was the next member of the family to be drawn into a European war. World War Two saw the highest loss of life in any conflict. On the 18^th June 1944, George Lascelles was injured and captured in France. The irony was not lost on him; in his autobiography, The Tongs and the Bones he wrote, “We were the three Earls of Harewood who saw active service in the ninetieth and twentieth centuries and the coincidence is at least odd.”

What are the odds?

The odds of such a fascinating coincidence happening are long! For the statisticians among us, the chances of all three Earls being wounded in each war on the 18^th June is 1 in 1.472 million. You’re 49 times more likely to get struck by lightning!

Harewood is home to portraits of all three Earls which are hung in the State Dining Room along with the Napoleonic medal received by the 3^rd Earl. Visitors can see each figure represented in their military uniforms and learn about who these men were and how they influenced Harewood.

Explore the rooms in the House on our website.

Notes:

Odds calculated that the three Earls would be injured on the same date by:

Firstly, using the total number of people that fought in each war vs the total number of people who were injured/killed in each war – the odds that any solider would be injured or killed in each war were calculated.

Secondly, the likelihood of this injury occurring on the 18th June within each war was calculated.

Finally, the two sets of odds were combined to produce the 1 in 1.472 million chance of three people being injured on the same date in a war.

NB: The likeliness that people from the same family would be injured could not be easily calculated without significant research.

Lightening: according to The Improbability Principle by David Hand, the odds of being killed by lighting in 1 in 300,000.

The final of the Lady Shot of the Year competition will take place on the Saturday of this year’s CLA Game Fair, to be held at Harewood House in Yorkshire from Friday 31 July until Sunday 2 August.

Organised and run by the Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club, the inclusive ladies shooting club set up in 2012 to encourage more women to take up shooting, the Lady Shot of the Year final will be the culmination of a range of qualifying heats taking place on Saturday 27 June which have attracted a wide range of entries of all shooting skill levels from around the country. The qualifying heats, which are still open for entrants, will take place at 23 venues around the country and cost £35 for coaching and 30 cartridges.

The top three scorers in beginners, intermediate and advanced categories in the qualifying heats will then be invited to shoot in the final of the competition, a 30-bird sporting layout over a range of stands. The winner will receive a Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club tweed blazer and other prizes are being donated by Fur, Feather and Fin, the Sussex based country and shooting clothing and gift store.

The Lady Shot of the Year competition will also be raising funds for Victoria’s Promise, a charity set up in memory of Victoria Van Der Westhuizen who lost her battle with cancer in 2014. Victoria’s Promise provides support to women between the ages of 18-40 who have received a cancer diagnosis and works closely and in depth with each woman it supports to ensure their needs are met.

The charity provides a range of holistic services, including specialist reflexology and chemotherapy beauticians, to help women with cancer navigate the path through debilitating treatments and make their journey as stress free, manageable and successful as possible.

A fund raising raffle for Victoria’s Promise will be held over the three days of the CLA Game Fair on the Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club stand on Gunmakers’ Row with a prize of a limited edition Sage “Grace” pink fly fishing rod and reel provided by Stan Conway, the renowned fly caster.

A range of other prizes are also on offer, including a fly fishing day for two with Stan on the world famous River Test in Hampshire, and a range of Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club goodies.

Victoria Knowles-Lacks, founder of the Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club, commented: “I am delighted that the final of the Lady Shot of the Year competition is taking place at the CLA Game Fair and that we will also be raising money for Victoria’s Promise, which is an extremely worthwhile charity. The final is likely to be hard fought but, as with all of our events, immensely good fun and I can’t wait to see it unfold!”

Fiona Eastman, mother of Victoria and a founding member of Victoria’s Promise, added: “The funds raised through the raffle being held on the Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club stand and the raised awareness of our work will be invaluable in our mission to see that every women between the ages of 18-40 receives the care support and guidance they deserve whilst facing a difficult and frightening time in their young lives.”

For more details, visit www.gamefair.co.uk.