The Yorkshire Agricultural Society which runs the Great Yorkshire Show has paid tribute to Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, and said he played an “integral part” in the  society’s heritage.

A statement from Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Philip “passed away peacefully this morning” at Windsor Castle, aged 99.

The Duke of Edinburgh first paid a visit to the show in 1977 and attended the show on its landmark 150th anniversary in 2008.

He visited the show on the third and final day along with Her Majesty the Queen to meet exhibitors and inspect livestock.

The Queen was patron of Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which organised the show, from 1952 to 1997.

Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, said the Royal Family have been an “integral part” of the society’s heritage and paid tribute to Prince Philip.

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Mr Pulling said:

“It is with deep sadness that we learn of the passing of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society sends its sincere condolences to the Royal Family at this sad time.

“The Royal Family and Her Majesty The Queen have been an integral part of the Society’s heritage since it first formed in 1837 and on two occasions, in 1977 and 2008, we were honoured to welcome HRH Prince Philip along with Her Majesty The Queen to the Great Yorkshire Show.”

As part of his engagements with the Queen, Prince Philip often visited North Yorkshire to lend his support to various initiatives and events.

In May 2010, he opened the Scarborough Open Air Theatre and supported military events across the county.

The Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire described Prince Philip as a “hugely charismatic man, who was much loved and respected by so many”.

Tribute have also been paid by politicians, organisations and the Dean of Ripon Cathedral this afternoon.

The organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate confirmed today this year’s event will take place over four days for the first time.

The Stray Ferret exclusively revealed yesterday that major changes to the format, which included adding a day, were due to be announced.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society confirmed the news in a newsletter to members this morning.

“We can now reveal that the show will take place between Tuesday 13 July and Friday 16 July, from 8am to 5pm each day, if it is safe to do so.”

The show usually takes place from 7.30am to 7.30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but finishes an hour earlier on Thursdays.

The newsletter added the event will only go ahead “if the government’s roadmap out of coronavirus restrictions remains unchanged”.

It said government guidelines on large gatherings after June 21 would be informed by a series of pilot events taking place during spring.

“However, we do anticipate there will be a strict cap on the number of people allowed to gather at large events and so by adding a fourth day, more visitors will have the chance to attend safely.”

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The Stray Ferret understands the number of daily visitors will be restricted to between 20,000 and 25,000 — well below the usual 44,000 average.

in a subsequent press release, Charles Mills, honorary show director, said:

“We are thrilled by the response to our plans for the show this year in what we know will not quite be normal circumstances.

“We do expect there to be a limit on how many people can attend on any one day of the show and so for the first time in our history we believe the best option is to offer a four-day event.”

“There will be some changes this year, but we want to deliver as much of a normal show as restrictions allow, and it remains our position that the Show will only go ahead if it is safe to do so.

“We understand there is an element of risk in planning for an event of such scale given the potential for restrictions to change, however we accept this and firmly believe it is well worth planning for the Show to take place.

The Stray Ferret understands livestock classes will be reduced, just one event hall will be open, and facemasks will also have to be worn inside marquees.

https://twitter.com/greatyorkshow/status/1377191451541577731

Tickets must be purchased in advance and will be available from June 1.

Ripley Show, which was scheduled for August 4, was cancelled on the grounds that the “proposed conditions are near impossible to comply with on the show ground”.

The Great Yorkshire Show looks set to be extended to four days this year, as part of major changes in the wake of covid.

The Stray Ferret understands the show will also see the number of daily visitors restricted to between 20,000 and 25,000 — well below the usual 44,000 average.

It is understood livestock classes will be reduced, just one event hall will be open and all tickets will need to be bought in advance for track and trace purposes.

Facemasks will also have to be worn inside marquees.

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The show is now set to take place at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground from July 13 to 16, with the addition of a Friday to the usual Tuesday to Thursday schedule.

The event will operate reduced hours from 8am and 5pm each day.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which organises the event, is expected to make an announcement on the changes tomorrow.

Some other major outdoor shows in the district have cancelled due to concerns over social distancing.

Last week, Ripley Show announced it will not go ahead.

Organisers said despite the roadmap out of lockdown and vaccination numbers offering a positive outlook the “proposed conditions are near impossible to comply with on the show ground”.

Masham Steam Engine and Fair Organ Rally, which was due to take place on July 17 and 18, has also been cancelled.

The YAS has previously said it was hopeful the Great Yorkshire Show will go ahead despite other events cancelling.

Organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show have said they are hopeful the event will still go ahead despite other large events being cancelled in the district.

Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS) has said it is continuing to plan for the event but will only go ahead “if it is safe to do so”.

The Great Yorkshire Show is planned for July 13-15.

This week, Ripley Show was cancelled. The event was due to take place on August 8 but organisers said it would be impossible to enforce social distancing reasonably.

To welcome its usual visitor numbers of over 100,000, the Great Yorkshire Show is reliant on a positive outcome from the government’s trial events in the coming months.

A spokesperson for the YAS said:

“The safety of show visitors, exhibitors and staff is paramount, and we are continuing to discuss how we deliver the most covid safe show possible.

“We await the outcome of the government’s pilot events in anticipation of further guidance on the staging of larger events after existing restrictions are lifted on June 21.”

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The organisers have not given a date for an official decision to be made but said it will be reviewed alongside government guidance.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society has released similar comments previously suggesting that the show is under constant review. However, this has raised questions about the vaccination centre.

The showground, which can carry out up to 1,800 vaccinations a day, has been the Harrogate district’s main vaccine site since December.

A spokesperson for YAS said organisers were still in discussions with the NHS over the centre.

Health leaders revealed today they are in discussions with the organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show about whether the event and the vaccination programme on the site can take place together.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society announced this week it planned to stage the three-day show from July 13 to 15, adding the decision would be ‘reviewed regularly’.

This raised questions about the impact on the mass vaccination programme that is being run at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

The showground, which can carry out up to 1,800 vaccinations a day, has been the Harrogate district’s main vaccine centre since December.

The NHS is due to be giving jabs to under-50s at the time of the show.

The vaccines are administered in the Yorkshire Event Centre building at the showground. The event centre is usually a key part of the Great Yorkshire Show, hosting many food stalls.

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Amanda Bloor, accountable officer for North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, told a coronavirus press briefing today:

“It’s great that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and that venues which would have been standing empty have been serving such a great purpose.

“There are a number of sites we will be having conversations with over the next few weeks and there are also sites we are already in discussions with.

“We are talking about how we can run vaccination sites concurrently with public-facing events or whether we need to think about providing it in a different way.

“So we are working with individual sites to understand what the different options are for us.”

The Stray Ferret also asked the Yorkshire Agricultural Society about the situation.

Heather Parry, Managing Director of Yorkshire Event Centre said:

“We are discussing our plans with the NHS vaccination centre and together we expect to come up with workable solutions.”

The organisers of the Great Yorkshire Show announced today this year’s event will go ahead in Harrogate.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society said last week’s government roadmap out of lockdown paved the way for it to plan to stage the three-day show from July 13 to 15.

This will be the 162nd show, which showcases farming, food and the countryside at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

The 2019 event attracted over 135,000 visitors. Last year’s was cancelled due to covid.

If the roadmap stays on track large events should be able to go ahead by the end of June.

YAS said in a statement it was looking into ways to hold the show safely and that further updates, including ticket sales, would be out on its website and social media.

Charles Mills, honorary show director of the Great Yorkshire Show said:

“Following the publication of the government’s roadmap we are pleased to confirm that we are planning to hold the Great Yorkshire Show on 13-15 July 2021.

“This will, of course, have to be reviewed regularly and is based on the assumption that the whole country successfully moves from the current lockdown to step 4 in the government’s roadmap on June 21.

“We will only go ahead with the show if we can do so safely for all concerned.”

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The 2020 Great Yorkshire Show was held virtually.

It was the first time the entire show had been cancelled since the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.

The last two days in 2012 were cancelled due to flooding.

The Yorkshire Event Centre at the showground is currently being used as a vaccination centre. It is not clear what impact, if any, today’s announcement will have on this.

The future of next year’s Great Yorkshire Show is uncertain as the Harrogate venue that hosts the event begins a huge mass vaccination project.

The NHS began the programme on Tuesday at the showground. It is expected to last several months, which raises questions about the viability of the 2021 show, which is provisionally scheduled for July 13 to 15.

Heather Parry, managing director at Yorkshire Event Centre, told the Stray Ferret is is “looking at all the options at the moment” for the 2021 event.

Ms Parry said:

“It’s a changing picture. It’s obviously a big event with lots of people so whether we do it the same way or a different way, we are keen to do something if we can.

“We don’t know how many months we’re in this for. We would like to run a Great Yorkshire Show, absolutely, whether it’s the same or different, we don’t know. We are doing lots of planning.”

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Ms Parry said none of the contingency plans involved moving the event, which has been held at the Great Yorkshire Showground since 1951, to a different site.

The show was cancelled in 2020 due to coronavirus. A virtual event took place instead with three days of video footage.

Ms Parry added that at least 200 other events have been cancelled this year at the Yorkshire Event Centre and the Pavillions of Harrogate venue, which is also on the showground, due to the pandemic.

Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which organises the Great Yorkshire Show, faces a £2m loss this year.

The farming charity, which was founded in 1837, may have to shed staff to cope with the ongoing impact of covid, which has decimated the number of events it can stage.

The society’s income for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 was £11.9m. It has risen every year since 2015, when it was £9m.

But chief executive Nigel Pulling told the Stray Ferret he expected income to be £2m down this year. He said:

“We are looking at reducing our costs and waiting for everything to improve.

“We have about £5m in the bank but we are losing money at a rapid rate.”

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Mr Pulling’s comments further illustrate how strongly the effects of covid on the events and conference sector were being felt in Harrogate.

Last month Harrogate events company Joe Manby Ltd folded after 46 years.

Plans to stage Great Yorkshire Show

The showground usually hosts 700 events a year, with the three-day Great Yorkshire Show by far the biggest.

But Mr Pulling, who has led the society since 2002, said it was operating at “well below 10 per cent” of capacity at the moment.

A rare bright note came yesterday when it was revealed the spring flower show is due to go ahead, albeit with a vastly reduced capacity.

Mr Pulling said the society had been “comparatively well financed” since it sold land to Sainsbury’s for about £15m in the early 1990s.

But an £11m refurbishment of the Yorkshire Event Centre, completed in 2016, put a dent in its finances even though the project had been well received.

Mr Pulling said the first quarter of 2021 “doesn’t look good” but the second quarter was the crucial period for the events sector. Next year, he said, was “up for grabs”.

He said the society still planned to stage the Great Yorkshire Show next summer, adding:

“But it’s too early to be specific about what it will look like.”

The society employed about 100 staff pre-covid. Mr Pulling said this figure had reduced by fewer than 20 due to natural wastage but it had to look at reducing costs further. He said:

“It has been devastating to see the effects covid has had for everyone – and the events industry has been among the hardest hit.”

Viewers from over 40 countries tuned into watch the first Great Yorkshire Virtual Show this week.

People as far as Japan and New Zealand watched as more than 60 show supporters, ranging from farmers to rural craftspeople, filmed their own footage to give viewers a real insight into their work.

The three day programme allowed viewers to see the Yorkshire countryside virtually from the comfort of their own homes. The itinerary included stunt riders, stars of The Yorkshire Vet and cooking sessions with TV chefs.

Families who have been showing their animals on the show ground for generations invited viewers onto their farms, via video, to give a real insight into Yorkshire farming.

Amongst those missing out were the hundred of school children who usually attend the show. This year they had to sit in their classrooms to watch the behind the scenes footage and performances.

Local farmers took viewers on virtual tours to give them an insight in farming in Yorkshire.

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Charles Mills, farmer and Show Director of the Great Yorkshire Show, said:

“I am absolutely delighted and grateful for the support for our first ever virtual show. While it was always clear that we could not replicate the Great Yorkshire Show as everyone knows and loves, I hope that everyone who tuned in found something that entertained them and hopefully they learned something new about farming, food and the countryside.”

“We are incredibly proud of how supporters of the Show of all ages and from across the county went to such great efforts to help us celebrate the Show. One important thing I do hope the virtual show has achieved is to have helped lift people’s spirits during what has been a tough time. I’m now looking forward to next year when we look forward to welcoming everybody back to the Great Yorkshire Show.”

The line-up for this year’s Great Yorkshire Show has been announced ahead of the first day today.

For the first time in history the show will be broadcast online from the Great Yorkshire Show website and will feature a packed schedule which celebrates farming, food and the countryside.

Some top attractions include a behind the scenes tour with Olympic show jumper Graham Fletcher, a Q&A with stars of The Yorkshire Vet and a performance from East Yorkshire based TV stunt performers Atkinson Action Horses.

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Charles Mills, the show’s director, said:

“Never before has the Great Yorkshire Show been celebrated as a virtual event and so we are incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to bringing the show to life in this way. There will be something for everyone to enjoy online over the show’s three days and we dearly hope that you will join us for what promises to be a very special showcase…”

Charles Mills, Show Director.

The show, which normally welcomes more than 130,000 visitors and 8,500 animals was cancelled in March due to the pandemic. In previous years the show has generated large amounts of traffic through Harrogate.

The organisers were determined that “the show must go on” and instead encourage people to enjoy the event from the comfort of their own home.

To view the full schedule visit – https://greatyorkshireshow.co.uk