Sunshine brings 156th Great Yorkshire Show to a Close

Glorious sunshine and blue skies brought three days of farming excellence and entertainment to a finale as the 156th Great Yorkshire Show came to a close yesterday (Thurs).

Organisers announced a gate figure of 130,949, compared with last year’s 134,837. HRH The Princess Royal and HRH The Countess of Wessex toured England’s premier agricultural event meeting visitors, seeing top class livestock and enjoying the diversity of rural life showcased at the event.

Bill Cowling said: We’ve had an exceptional three days with super crowds, record entries and of course, in what is a first for us, two royal visitors in as many days. Our gate figure is slightly down (less than 3%) on last year’s which is a bit disappointing, but to have had two amazing events showcasing Yorkshire within one week is just wonderful. And of course we’re already looking ahead to our autumn show, Countryside Live in October.”

Great Yorkshire Show highlights included Lorenzo, the Flying Frenchman and his amazing equine display each day, plus record cattle entries which resulted in superb quality across the classes. The Supreme Beef Championship went to an 8 year old Limousin cow, Brockhurst Bolshoi, from Doug Mash of Chesham, Bucks. The Supreme Dairy silverware was awarded to a Holstein, Meiklefirth Plaid Lutske, owned by David Yates of Kircudbrightshire.

There were also record entries in the sheep section, which saw a homebred Texel tup, Sportsmans Upper Class take the championship. The tup was shown by Mark Priestley, on behalf of Boden & Davies of Mellor Hall Farm, Stockport.

The BPA Pig of the Year was won by Steve Loveless of Bridport, Dorset with a Duroc pig, Portbury Turnatofe.

In the equine section, there was a Yorkshire win when Steve Pullan of Knaresborough took the prestigious Cuddy Supreme Championship with a 7 year old Cleveland Bay mare, Knaresborough Moon Dust.

And in the culmination of three days of superb show jumping, Robert Bevis of Wrexham won The Ripon Select Foods Cock o’the North trophy after a thrilling clear round on Pebbles 1V.

In the Garden Section, the NFU Mutual won the top award, the Doncaster Cup, with a display of fruit and vegetables and in the Great Yorkshire Cheese and Dairy Show, the honours were taken by Colton Bassett Dairy with a stilton.

Preparations are already taking place for next year’s Great Yorkshire Show which runs from Tuesday 14 ““ Thursday 16 July.