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19
Jan
Great Yorkshire Show recruits first female show director in 165 years
Rachel Coates will make history this year when she becomes the first female show director of the Great Yorkshire Show.
England’s premier agricultural event is organised annually at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.
Ms Coates, a dairy farmer from Shipley, West Yorkshire, will take over from Charles Mills who has been show director since 2016, immediately after this year’s event, which takes place from July 9 to 12.
Ms Coates said:
She is a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society Council, farms tenanted and owned land on the edge of Baildon Moor and has been part of the show's cattle committee for a number of years. Her family have shown dairy cattle at the event for about 15 years, winning Holstein champion for two years running in 2023 and 2022.
Ms Coates is a director of a community interest company which runs her local farmers' market. She is also a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s women in farming network and enjoys volunteering at the society’s countryside days for schoolchildren at the showground.
Rachel Coates will succeed current show director Charles Mills in July.
Charles Mills, current show director, said:
Allister Nixon, chief executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society said:
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