Her
Majesty The Queen to Visit 150th Great Yorkshire Show
HM The Queen, accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, will
visit the North of England’s largest agricultural event on
Thursday, 10 July 2008.
It will be the fourth time The Queen has attended the Great
Yorkshire Show – her last visit was during her Silver
Jubilee Year in 1977.
The Great Yorkshire Show, organised by the Yorkshire
Agricultural Society, runs from Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10
July, and is held at the Great Yorkshire Showground on
Wetherby Road, Harrogate.
The event is celebrating its 150th Show in 2008 – and
Honorary Show Director Bill Cowling is delighted The Queen
has chosen to visit during this special year.
“We are delighted that HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of
Edinburgh are visiting the Great Yorkshire Show,
particularly during this, our 150th Show.
“It is a great honour to welcome Royal visitors to the
Showground – and we look forward to HM The Queen seeing how
the Show has developed since her last trip to Harrogate,” he
said.
The last Royal visit to the Great Yorkshire Show was in 2006
when HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
attended the event.
The 150th Great Yorkshire Show promises to be one of the
best in the event’s history. More than 120,000 visitors are
expected to visit over the three days and there is a packed
programme of events to keep them entertained.
Livestock entries are pouring in for the 2008 show – and the
Yorkshire Agricultural Society has lined up a host of
exciting new attractions to help mark the 150th show.
These include a 30m high Great Yorkshire Show Wheel, five
cookery theatres featuring some of the region’s top chefs,
150 years of bridal fashion, music from the famous Black
Dyke Band and the Great Lorenzo, a thrilling equestrian
display of one man and 12 horses!
Parking is free and extensive. Venue: Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, N. Yorkshire.
HG5 9BX Contact Details The Great Yorkshire Show website -
www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk is currently being updated. See
also the Society’s site - www.yas.co.uk Show Office: 01423 541000
   
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The history of the GYS is intimately connected with that
of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS). At its foundation in 1837,
the primary aim of the YAS was stated as "... to hold an Annual Meeting
for the Exhibition of Farming Stock, Implements &c., and for the General
Promotion of Agriculture."
The first YAS Show was held in 1838 in the Barrack Yard at Fulford, near
York. Though the numbers attending were not recorded the event was
counted a success; police had to use their truncheons to restore order
among the large numbers of visitors when they began to force their way
in without paying.
Originally intended as a peripatetic event, the Show moved to Leeds,
Northallerton and Hull in subsequent years, before returning to York in
1842. This is the first year for which attendance figures are available
— the Show in 1842 had a paid attendance of 6044. By 1843 the YAS Show
had become known as the "Great Yorkshire Show", apparently by popular
acclamation rather than in any official sense.
The GYS continued to be held in various places around Yorkshire until
1950. No GYS was held between 1915-1919 due to World War I while the
1920 GYS was held jointly with the RASE in Darlington. Shows between
1940-1948 were cancelled due to World War II. By 1948 the YAS was coming
to the conclusion that the expenses involved in setting up a new
showground every year were becoming prohibitive, and in 1949 it was
decided that a permanent showground be acquired. In 1950 the last of the
peripatetic shows was held in Malton.
In 1950 the YAS purchased a site at Hook Oval in Harrogate for the sum
of £16,500, and since 1951 this has been the permanent site for the GYS.
In 1951 the attendance figure was nearly 54,000.
The 2001 GYS was cancelled due to the outbreak of Foot and mouth disease
in Britain.
The 2006 show has been the most successful so far in terms of attendance
figures, with 135,111 visitors.
The 2008 show was attended by the Queen to celebrate its 150th
anniversary.
The Showground
The Great Yorkshire Showground is situated off Railway
Road, on the outskirts of Harrogate. The site is 250 acres (101 ha) in
area, and consists mainly of grassland with several permanent
structures. These include
* Main grandstand and show-ring
* Country Pursuits arena (featuring Hounds and Birds of Prey)
* Flower Show
* "White Rose" grandstand and show-ring
* Housing for cattle, sheep, pigs and other livestock
* Multi-purpose conference and exhibition halls (known as the "Yorkshire
Event Centre")
* Dining and function facilities (known as "Pavilions of Harrogate")
* Office accommodation for the YAS, which has its headquarters at the
showground
The showground facilities are used all the year round for various
functions and events ranging from the Great Yorkshire Show itself to
antiques fairs, trade shows, business conferences and wedding
receptions. It is estimated that some 1 million people visit the
showground per year.
 
  
 
   
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