Sheep shearing team aiming for world record

Published on Wednesday 22 June 2011 14:26

IT''S a competition that will take shear determination.

• Rena with Dylis the sheep

A ewe-nique team is hoping to smash a world record by shearing a sheep, spinning its wool and knitting a jumper in under five hours.

Dylis the sheep will get a close shave at the Royal Highland Show on Saturday as the team of nine perform the process spanning everything from the sheep to the shop.

The Highland Show will provide the platform for a practice run, before the team goes for the world record next year.

Organiser Rena Douglas, 70, who has kept sheep for 28 years, said her friendly ewe, Dylis, was ideal for the competition, called Baaa'ck to Back.

She said: "Dylis is a big, fluffy sheep, which is perfect because fluffy is easy to shear.

"This competition is a challenge that was thought up quite a number of years ago. Nowhere in mainland Scotland, has ever given it a go. It's been done in the Shetland Islands, but not here. Australia hold the current world record at four hours 51 minutes.

"This year is our trial run, so we're not hoping to do quite that well. We'll start at 9am on the Saturday and hope to be finished by 6pm. We'll be doing it in front of the public and we're quite happy to have a chat with those watching about the process."

The crew could be heading to New Zealand to try to break the world record, although they are also open to returning to the Royal Highland Show next year.

Rena, from Fife, explained: "We'll hand-shear Dylis, then as soon as we've got enough wool off her, we'll hand-spin it on a spinning wheel. We'll all work closely together to keep this going. As soon as it's spun, the knitters will get knitting. We have to make a regular jumper, but it's a bit tricky because the needles have to be a specific size, we have to do a certain number of stitches and a certain number of rows.

"We're using white wool because it's the easiest to spin. Coloured wool is a bit crimped, so it's more difficult to handle."

She added: "This competition is a big thing for us, and it's a good show for Scotland. We're hoping to sell the jumper off at an auction for charity."

The team members are Kate Sharp, from Humbie, Joan Brunton, from Haddington, Ursula Stewart, from Perth, Francis Macfarlane, from Bathgate, Linda Anderson and Annette Brown, both from Callandar, Dorothy Graham, from Fife and shearer Tony Reilly, from Tranent. Spare team member is Isabella Hodge, from Musselburgh.

They can be found in the National Sheep Association marquee.