Driffield Show: Milestone 150th edition of the UK's biggest one-day agricultural show
The Driffield Show is the biggest one-day agricultural show in the UK and this year is celebrating its 150th edition and it will be combining the past and present. Chris Berry reports.
The return of the Blimp, introduction of the Driffield Eye, a look back at the era of the threshing machine and potato harvesting, a local farming family taking centre stage on horseback, the traditional Grand Parade. These are all part of what has always been known as simply the best day out in East Yorkshire – and Driffield Show’s 150th show, to be held on Wednesday, July 22 looks all set to be its best yet!
Driffield Show has long been championed as the biggest one-day agricultural show in the UK with over 23,000 attending and its Driffield Showground has been home to the Driffield Agricultural Society and the show since 1954 when the Society purchased the site. But it all began 100 years prior to buying the show’s permanent home when the first Driffield Show was held in 1854.
This was the era when many in agriculture began to see serious improvements in farming methods following the lead set by agricultural pioneer Robert Bakewell in the previous century, which had led to Farmers’ Clubs formed to discuss ways forward in breeding of livestock and growing of crops.
The Driffield Farmers’ Club was formed in 1851 and the exhibiting of new agricultural machinery on Mr Hopper’s farm at Kelleythorpe took place in 1852. A year later Driffield Farmers’ Club had become the Driffield and East Riding Agricultural Society, and the show made its debut a year later.
Tim Burdass of Dotterill Farm, Kilham is on the Society’s board, involved with the Education Committee and is masterminding what will be one of the highlights of this year’s show – looking back, and at the same time looking at how far ‘harvest time’ has come – with a dramatic portrayal of working life on farm up to 100 years ago to today’s hi-spec kit used in the fields of East Riding’s arable farming community.
‘We’re focusing on potatoes and grain,’ says Tim. ‘We’ve one of agriculture’s biggest potato harvesting specialists, Grimme, bringing along one of the old spinners that would spin the potatoes out of the ground and one of the first lifters of spuds – and they’ll be seen working alongside today’s ultra-modern machines.
On the grain side visitors will be treated to a fabulous dramatic working demonstration of what it was like at harvest a century back, when many men would be turning ‘shavs’, as Tim relays, into corn.
‘Back then and until the 50s and 60s in some cases, ‘shavs’ or sheaves of corn would be collected from the fields and ‘threshed’ through the threshing machine. This was the forerunner to today’s combine harvester and was a static machine brought into a farmyard.
‘We’re having a local man Dave Woodcock of Burton Fleming making and bringing a trailer load of ‘shavs’ and we’ve a historic threshing machine, probably from as much as 100 years ago that will be in action. We’ve also a good friend of the Society, Paddy Pennock of Wold Top Brewery bringing his and his wife’s two Shire horses and they’ll pull an old cart to bring the ‘shavs’ into the arena. We’ve a gang, as there would have been, all set to then thresh the corn out of the straw – and then the straw will go through one of the first ever balers, made by German manufacturer Claas, from around the early 1940s. We’ll also have today’s balers and today’s combine harvesters to show just how far agriculture has come. Local farm machinery dealers Peacock & Binnington will be demonstrating a brand new Massey Ferguson Ideal combine harvester, which can cost up to £500,000 today. The Society’s Derek Megginson will be providing the commentary.
While Driffield and its surrounding areas of the Wolds, Holderness and the Vale of York are plentiful in producing cereal crops and more, the East Riding is also home to one of the UK’s biggest pig farming areas and excellent cattle and sheep, all of which are a major part of the show.
One of the Society’s biggest moves in the past 20 years was to move its livestock classes into a much larger area in order to satisfy the growing demand for entries, as Driffield attracts a huge number of exhibitors from the rest of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and surrounding counties.
The Grand Parade, held in the main show ring, is the ultimate livestock spectacle at the show – along with the many equine classes, but perhaps the biggest attraction of all this year will be the return of the wonderful talents of Atkinson’s Action Horses and specifically, amazing horseman Ben Atkinson.
‘We’ve especially asked them back to celebrate with us,’ says Society Manager, Cheryl Lynch. ‘The Atkinsons are a local farming family from Howden who diversified into horses. We had to have Ben back for our 150th. Everyone will have seen Atkinson Action Horses at some stage in films or on television on such as Poldark, Victoria, Peaky Blinders, Emmerdale and All Creatures Great and Small.
‘We’re also really excited about the Driffield Show Eye. It will provide our visitors with something really unique allowing them to see the show from a totally different perspective to what they’ve ever seen before.
‘I’m Driffield born and bred. I didn’t have any agricultural connections until I joined the Society two decades ago and this will be my 19th Driffield Show, which would have been my 20th but for our cancellation during Covid.
‘The show has always been a part of my life. One of the things I remember when growing up was that in the week before the show there was always this Blimp in the sky, announcing the show. You could see it from everywhere and it built the excitement in the community. This year we’ve brought it back, a massive Blimp or big balloon. I’m sure it will bring back memories.
‘Being a local, Driffield Show has always been the highlight of the year right from when I can remember. And it still is today for many of the 23,000 that come back every year.