Hunterville geese herder Keith Berrett enthralls at Marton Harvest Festival

Keith Berrett

Keith Berrett is a smiling, wiry little man who has been herding geese for 40 years.

Last week the retired Hunterville farmer took six of his geese to the Marton Harvest Fair with a group of his clever, bright-eyed farm dogs.

Unfortunately, the space allotted at the corner of the Marton Park wasn't quite big enough to show off his geese-herding to perfection, he said.

"I could only use three geese in each display. I really need more space. This is the first time it's been a bit small for us."

But it didn't matter at all because the small crowd (but about 8000 people were at the fair on Sunday) were enthralled by the dogs carefully rounding up the geese and herding them neatly into a pen.

Berrett said his geese herding skill had started as a bit ''of a hobby" really.

But the farmers in Hunterville ensured they had Berrett demonstrating his skill with his geese flock at the annual Schemozzle.

"I was herding a huge flock of geese down the main street as part of the Schmozzle. We were pretty popular.''

Years later Berrett was asked to demonstrate his geese herding skills at the annual Marton Harvest Fair.

"I was very happy to go to Marton. Our displays go down well here.

"When we first came we used to get half a field to show our stuff. But our small corner shows how the fair has grown.

"It's good there are so many people here and such alot of stalls and things now.''