She is the quintessential home industrialist – the lifeblood of any A&P show.

At the moment Anne Baldock is completing a crochet entry for the Te Puke show one chain stitch, one half treble, one double treble and the odd triple treble at a time.

She's also just whipped up a batch of date scones for morning tea, and there's a pile of Louisa plums stacked on the kitchen bench waiting to be preserved.

The weather's been conspiring against her, and her Louisas. 'No sunshine means no sugar, means no taste.” The same 'bloody weather” which cancelled the Katikati A&P show last weekend.

She's praying for shine for the 117th running of the Te Puke A&P Lifestyle Show at Paengaroa tomorrow, Saturday, February 11.

'There are eight sections in crocheting and I like to have an entry in each,” says Anne. She's an achiever, she likes to do stuff, get stuff done.

Anne has a mortgage on the impressive Mrs L.Jamieson silver salver for crocheting at the Te Puke A&P show.

A dying art

'You want me to count the times I have won?”

Yes, go on Anne. She starts at Mrs A.Baldock 1984 which is engraved on the rim of the salver.

'So one, two, three, four…..”

Anne wouldn't care a triple treble if she didn't retain the salver this year. 'I'd welcome some competition.” It would mean there was someone else out there doing some work. '15, 16, 17, 18.”

Crocheting, it seems, is a dying art. Like knitting and sewing. 'That makes me a bit sad.”

But then she puts out a rallying cry for home industries. 'It needs people to get to and do it. Put down their phones for a while, create something; make something beautiful.” So why did Anne start teaching herself to crochet back in 1971? Her story may serve as inspiration, help breath some life. 'I got stuck in a farmhouse all day and needed something to occupy my time – otherwise I would have gone crackers.”

She grabbed a crochet hook. Meanwhile – '22, 23, 24, 25.” So Anne has won the Te Puke A&P Show silver salver for crocheting 25 times since 1974. 'They should just give it to me now.” She has a point – there's not much engraving space left.

Something beautiful

Anne grabs her weapon of choice, a crochet hook, purses her lips and executes a ‘shell' stitch. Those fingers are 82 years old, they've done this hundreds of thousands of times, and they're as nimble as ever. She can do it with her eyes closed. 'It's about creating something beautiful, watching it develop, you can see it and touch it.”

Then she gives it away to someone deserving. It can be both rewarding and tragically sad.

'I was making a shawl for a pregnant woman, but the little girl didn't survive.” Anne continued stitching and the shawl was still gifted to the mother. 'You just never know.”

Anne's handiwork – one knitted article and 10 crocheted – will be on show at the Te Puke A&P Lifestyle Show on A&P Showgrounds Rd, Paengaroa, tomorrow, February 11.

Covid reduced last year's show to just horse events. But this year, weather gods permitting, they're back to a full card – a fun dog ring, strongman and strongwoman competitions, dairy calf and cattle sections, horse and pony rings, truck and tractor pulling, gumboot throwing and mechanical bull rides and lots of other attractions.

Gates open 7am, show begins 9am.