GEORGE GOULD, who died in 1962, in the mid 1950s began a diary which he continued until just before his death. This is an excerpt:
The Root Show and Ploughing Match was an occasion to which we all looked forward and this show was held each year in the autumn on the village green.
The ploughing took place in fields lent by the farmers in the district.
The whole of the outside portions of the green was covered by the various root crops, leaving room in the centre for the grandstand, which was a wagon or two from which the prizes were presented by some big noise. It stands out in my memory as being something of a wonderful event.
The size and quality of these root crops had to be seen to be believed – mangolds (Golden Tankard), swedes, turnips, kohl rabi, etc

The Dog, one of the two
public houses now in Wethersfield

Draymen delivering beer to the
Red Lion pub, now a garage

(sugar beet had not yet arrived).
One can guess that with all the farmers and farm workers gathered in the village the four pubs were doing a roaring trade but this was the occasion when old friends could meet and talk.
A lot more ploughing was done in the pubs afterwards than was ever done in the fields that day, or any other day either!