GYS reaffirms its repute as one of the best

Umbrella carrying visitors and determined performances in the livestock classes were a feature of opening day with the conditions seeing footfall drop but swift trade in the undercover food hall.

Mercifully, in stark contrast, days two and three enjoyed a cheerful backdrop of mostly blue skies and sunshine, as the Harrogate showground’s avenues of trade stands bustled with visitors, with Wednesday believed to have attracted record day two crowds.

A combination of such a massive turnout, numbering tens of thousands, and two traffic accidents at either end of the day led to long delays for visitors both arriving and leaving, before final day served up a more typical show day, reportedly free of operational issues.

This year’s show attracted Environment Secretary Michael Gove and senior business leaders, including the chief executive of Barclays Bank, Jes Staley, and Morrisons’ chief executive David Potts.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post as the final day drew to a close, Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the show’s hosts, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said: “It underlines the fact that this is the premier agricultural show in England and an important event in the agricultural calendar for the whole country.

“I’m very pleased Michael Gove made it. Clearly a relatively new Minister needs to be seen talking to the farming community and there is no better place than the Great Yorkshire Show. We know there is a lot going on at Westminster so for him to take time out was great. He has made the extra effort to be here and he needs to be applauded for that.

“We have to make sure next year it’s in his diary. It shouldn’t be a question if he is coming, it’s should be a question of when.”

Addressing Wednesday’s traffic problems, Mr Pulling said: “We are very sorry to any visitors that were delayed. The traffic management plan is over 100 pages and is produced with all the authorities - the Highways Agency, North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire County Council’s highways team - and clearly we will review what happened.

“We want to ensure people have good journeys but really the issue was the volume of traffic and a couple of accidents.”

The Society chief said he was pleased by how well the showground held up in Tuesday’s wet conditions.

“There would have been a time when we’d have had puddles everywhere but the investment over the last four years has paid dividends.”

Ahead of the show, the Society, with the backing of show jumping legend Graham Fletcher, invested £70,000 in a new Olympic standard all-weather synthetic surface next to the main ring for competitors to put their horses through their paces ahead of equine classes.

Show director, Charles Mills, said: “Tuesday’s conditions showed the importance of that and talking to exhibitors and riders, it meant a lot to them. If we can justify investing in the showground then we will do it.”

Leading his second show as director, Mr Mills, said he looked at the event with a more critical eye and he professed the need for the show to continue to reflect the evolving nature of agriculture while vowing that the Society would listen to farmers over the coming months to make any further improvements.

Summing up his feelings at the end of the show, Mr Mills said: “I’m absolutely elated. Tuesday was testing but typically Yorkshire people are so resilient and just got on with it and I’m very grateful for that. First and foremost I think everyone had a fun time and that’s what we want to deliver.

“One of the most satisfying things to me was that we always used to get concentrations of people in areas of the showground but certainly today people have been spread out, so that tells me the whole show is offering something positive.”

He said he was thankful to the hundreds of stewards and other volunteers without whom “we wouldn’t have a show”.

Signing off, Mr Mills added: “I have perhaps enjoyed this show more than any other for a number of years. Wednesday and Thursday were breathtaking at times. The whole team here worked wonderfully well as always. It’s been a delight and a pleasure.”