Couple given "fond" farewell from Grantown
VISITORS to the Grantown Show, particularly the many overseas tourists in the crowd, were treated to a traditional, if messy, pre-wedding ritual when a no-holds-barred "blackening" took place in the showfield.
Jodie Rae, from Ballintomb Farm, Dulnain Bridge, and his New Zealand fiancée, Katie Tulson, were hauled unceremoniously out of the crowd and covered in molasses and feathers by a group of their friends.
Most of them finished up equally dirty, after the happy couple escaped from their captors and dished out some retribution of their own.
Jodie (31), whose parents farm Ballintomb, spent around six and a half years in New Zealand, returning 18 months ago with his bride-to-be. Since then he has been working at Ballintomb and Gaich Farms.
In a couple of weeks' time, the pair leave for a new life in New Zealand, where they will get married on January 21 next year.
Jodie is set to take up work as a shepherd, while Katie will return to her former job with a farm supplies company.
Jodie, who was a member of Strathspey Young Farmers Club for many years, said the blackening was all a bit of a shock.
"I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get away with it and that something was being planned for my blackening, but I didn’t expect it at Grantown Show," he said.
Before leaving for New Zealand, the couple will be attending the wedding of Jodie’s sister, Carly, to Nathan Timms on August 21.
