Great Yorkshire Show: From Royal visits to young handlers and steward stalwarts

There is only me here I think.

This is the Great Yorkshire Showground but not as you know it. It is likely that few people really see it like this.

For now, the stands in the main ring are empty. The stables, cattle sheds, sheep rings and pig pens are empty too.

Even in this moment, where time seems to have stood still for a little while, the enormity of where I am and what it means to the farming community of Yorkshire and beyond is not at all lost.

In a way, without all the action, it almost seems clearer.

The showground, all 250 acres of it, is the size of an average UK farm yet is nestled within the urban sprawl of Harrogate - like a snapshot of country life accessed through a secret door with a secret code.

Although it may not have been top of the list of requirements when the Yorkshire Agricultural Society purchased the site back in 1950 for £16,500, it seems fitting that in a time now, as the Great Yorkshire celebrates its 165th show, that there is that proximity between urban and rural life.

The show, in just four days, gives more of an insight into rural life and the ways and traditions of the countryside than any national curriculum or knee-jerk government tick box scheme to get people outdoors ever could.

And, with farming and the security of UK food production at one of the most critical points in living memory due to the weather, climate change, overseas conflict and the fall-out from Brexit - the need to highlight the challenges rural and farming communities are facing now to the country’s largely urban decision-makers has never been greater.

Of course, over the years, the Great Yorkshire Show has not shied away from doing this and while the show is non-political it has created a reputable platform for itself and continues to attract high profile guests.

At last year’s show, new regulations set to promote fairness, transparency and accountability across the dairy supply chain were announced by the farming minister Mark Spencer during his visit on the show’s opening day.

In 2022, the then Defra minister, Victoria Prentis, had met with the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association, the Future Farmers of Yorkshire Association and tenant farmers to discuss issues within pig farming and launched a review into the sector.

That same year, HRH Princess Anne visited the show, and not for the first time, as president of the Beef Shorthorn Society which in 2022 was celebrating its 200th anniversary.

Previously she had visited in 2018 and 2014 while other members of the Royal family are certainly no stranger to a day out in Yorkshire.

In 2021, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were the guests of honour and earlier this year, YAS announced with delight that the King, following a review of more than 1,000 Royal Patronages and charity Presidencies by the Royal Household, would continue to be patron of the charity.

It is a position that was also previously held by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

However, Show Director, Charles Mills has said on many an occasion, that for him, the Great Yorkshire Show is about the people.

When he announced that the Great Yorkshire Show 2024 would be his last as Show Director, Mr Mills said: “When I was a young boy in short corduroy trousers sitting in the Grandstand, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the honour of one day becoming the Show Director of the Great Yorkshire Show. It is a wonderful organisation and getting the opportunity to meet and work with so many dedicated people will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

And this is that. Kids playing in the sheep pens, watching the action in awe or waiting at the ice-cream vans go on to be the people that help make the show what it is.

For all the new inventions on show, the latest John Deere, acrobatic attractions, dignitaries and a flurry of press attention, what is also true about the Great Yorkshire Show is that it is akin to going down to the local pub to catch up with old pals.

It might seem a strange anomaly but it is quite clear when you look and take note.

Before those gates swing open bright and early on Tuesday morning of next week, the farmers, livestock owners, farm hands, extended staff and families will have been on site for a couple of days before setting their stall out – quite literally – and getting the animals transported and settled.

It has also provided a place to get together in person and in many cases, this is the first time since last year’s show that they have seen each other.

There will have been a few beers downed and there might be a couple of sore heads but it is worth it and needed.

Farming is lonely, physically hard graft, isolated and especially over the last few years it can be mentally draining. The worry over prices, the weather, costs going up, payments going down and all the rest of it can, and has, taken its toll.

Farmers are also renowned for having this “it’ll be reet” attitude and just ploughing on.

While there are some wonderful charities and organisations that support farmers and their families – the likes of the Farm Safety Foundation and Yellow Wellies, RABI and the Farming Community Network off the top of my head – it is not for everyone to go and ask for help when they are struggling to keep it together.

So, that idle passing the time of day type chat over the pig pens, trying to trim a Texel, or as you watch a fellow farmer’s dog show its prowess in the sheepdog trials is more important than we may ever know.

The Great Yorkshire Show, provides a great day out for thousands of people both from farming or non-rural backgrounds, 35,000 per day in fact, but for others the show is a way of life.

Margaret Chapman started going to the Great Yorkshire Show before it was even held in Harrogate.

Prior to YAS securing the site it has been held on since 1951, other locations have been York, Leeds, Northallerton, Hull, Darlington and Middlesbrough.

The first show she attended, Margaret recalls, was in Malton and it was 1948 or 1949.

"I showed for a number of years, my father was involved with the show, my great-uncle was involved as far back as 1910. There have been a few Chapmans – but I think I am the last.”

She became a steward in the 1970s, a ring steward in the 1980s, was chief cattle steward in 2008 and president in 2022.

Margaret was the first female steward to be invited to the pre-show dinner held on the Monday night. It was 1985 and the show, she recalls, was “male orientated”. Things have moved on now though she added hastily.

She said: “It has been a way of life to me and very important. It is a great way of getting town and country together and seeing what happens in the countryside.”

The fifth generation of a York pig farming family will be among the competitors this year.

The Triffitt family and their descendants have been exhibiting pigs at the show for more than six decades and, as the family grows, its younger members keep on joining in with the fun and the range of breeds they bring along keeps expanding too.

First to exhibit at the show was Joseph Triffitt, then based at Fulford as a pork butcher, who was part of the event in the days when it moved around and his son, also Joseph Triffitt but known by his middle name of Ken, followed in his footsteps and continued the family tradition, both men becoming pig judges.

Now, 13 year-old grandson Alfie Holding will be showing his British Lops and Gloucestershire Old Spots this year.

The Great Yorkshire Show takes place from Tuesday to Friday of next week and there are plenty of new elements.

This will be the first time the Show hosts the World Ayrshire Federation Annual Conference when around 100 farmers from countries including Kenya, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and America attend as part of a UK Tour.

For now, 9,500 rosettes and 220 trophies are currently being prepared for more than 2,000 classes set to take place over the week with Wednesday and Thursday already being a sell out.