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.

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 Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate is to be used for the vaccine rollout from next week.

The first vaccination is due to be given on Tuesday and the programme is expected to last for several months.

The government has asked the 17 GP practices in Harrogate and the surrounding district, including Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham to oversee the rollout.

The practices are appealing for volunteers to marshal the car park and signpost patients through the vaccination site at the showground, which is owned by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

No details have been given to the media about the rollout but a post on the Harrogate covid co-operation Facebook group yesterday on behalf of the GP practices revealed the news. It said:

“Harrogate and rural district are working together in order to plan for delivering a mass vaccination programme and we need to ask primary care staff and volunteers to help.

“We will need staff and volunteers to undertake a variety of roles and we need to plan for vaccinations to be carried out seven days a week, 8am-8pm, including bank holidays.

“This is a huge ask, but we would like volunteers to indicate if they would be willing to help in some capacity.”

The 250-acre showground has ample car parking and is used to staging large events, most notably the three-day Great Yorkshire Show, which was cancelled this year.

But nothing in the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s 183-year history compares with the task in hand.

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The GPs’ post today said it required 18 volunteers a day. Morning sessions will start with an 8am briefing and the first jabs will be given at 8.30am.

Morning sessions will end at 1.15pm and afternoon vaccinations will take place from 2.30pm to 6.15pm.

The GPs’ post said:

“Unfortunately we aren’t able to offer vaccinations to volunteers at this stage as we have to prioritise certain patient groups.

“Next week is the first stage of the vaccination programme and we are going to need volunteers from the New Year onwards to fulfil the same types of roles for probably a number of months.”

Anyone interested in volunteering is invited to register their interest and complete the questionnaire here.

Farmers in the Harrogate district have expressed fears for their future as the industry prepares for its biggest shake-up in almost 50 years.

The government confirmed this week farmers will lose 50 per cent of the support payments they receive from the European Union by 2024.

George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, said the government’s new system, named Environmental Land Management, will pay farmers if they prevent floods, plant woods and help wildlife.

But details of replacement support payments when the post-Brexit transition period ends on 31 December remain unclear.

Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society

Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the farming charity that organises the Great Yorkshire Show, said:

“It has been clear for some time that the current system of support payments will change, but there remains real anxiety about what the government’s future agricultural policy will mean for family farming businesses and livelihoods.

“Many farmers stand willing to embrace the changes ahead, however a lack of practical detail about how new support arrangements will work for farm businesses continues to make it difficult to plan for the future.”

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Mr Pulling added the society “will continue to support the farming community throughout the forthcoming transition” by “offering opportunities for skills development and knowledge exchange” and by promoting agriculture.

Sheep farmers are expected to be among the worst hit if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

The EU is the UK’s biggest export market for lamb: 90% of all lamb exports go to the EU so the industry could be devastated by tariffs.

This could have severe implications for sheep farmers in the district.

Beckwithshaw farmer David Wilson, chair of the Dalesbred Sheep Breeders Association, said many farmers could go out of business if the situation was not resolved.

Mr Wilson, whose son is the fifth generation of the family farming business, said:

“The future of farming is at stake. We just don’t know what is going to happen. We don’t know if we are coming or going.”

Santa Claus will be visiting Harrogate next month as part of a Christmas experience for children held at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

This event is one of few the showground has been able to hold this year due to covid restrictions.

Santa’s grotto will be manned by his elves and has been set up in a covid-secure manner.

On the weekend of the 5 and 6 December families can visit the grotto in groups of up to six people.

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society which manages the showground, forecasted a £2 million loss this year due to the number of cancelled events.

Its chief executive, Nigel Pulling, warned of the ongoing impact of covid which has left the society running at “well below 10 per cent” of capacity at the moment.

Graham Thompson, general manager, said:

“This has been a challenging year for all of us and it gives us great pleasure to provide some fun for the youngsters and welcome Santa on several dates throughout December.”

Other dates will be included, but tickets must be booked prior to the event. They can be bought here.

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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.”

Harrogate’s Yorkshire Event Centre has calculated the huge impact its cancelled events have had on the local economy.

To date, 148 events have been cancelled or postponed at the Yorkshire Event Centre and Pavilions of Harrogate, both owned by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. The total cost of struck-off events has cost the Centre nearly £6 million, but the total cost to the Harrogate economy is much higher.

Cafés, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, hotels and other local businesses have all struggled as a result.

Heather Parry, Managing Director of Yorkshire Event Centre Ltd, said:

“This is a challenging year for events businesses and it is no different for us at the Great Yorkshire Showground. Last year, businesses and events at the Showground were worth £73.7 million to the local economy.”

The calculation comes days after the Harrogate Convention Centre, home of the Nightingale Hospital, announced it will remain closed until March next year.

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The Yorkshire Event Centre sits in the Great Yorkshire Showground. The venue is home to some of the country’s biggest shows including The Great Yorkshire Show itself, which welcomes more than 130,000 visitors to the Harrogate district.

Bev Kemp, owner of The Bijou in Harrogate said:

“We rely very highly on events for tourism, a heck of a lot. We have lost the biggest conferences this year and I don’t know if we’re going to get them back. From March when lockdown started I would say at least 60% of our bookings have been cancelled, possibly more. We always get lots of people for the Great Yorkshire Show so that’s a huge loss. I am worried about hospitality on the whole in Harrogate. I think it’s going to take a few years to pick up.”

But, Ms Parry remains positive with future events coming to the showground. The Harrogate Bridal Show, the UK’s largest and longest running bridal event, has still been given the go-ahead in October.

Ms Parry said:

“We have taken robust steps to ensure that we can provide a safe, secure and flexible space to host events, in line with the latest government advice on social gatherings. As such, we have worked closely with the organisers of the Harrogate Bridal Show to meet their requirements.

The Harrogate Bridal Show is expected to run at the Yorkshire Event Centre from October 4 – 6.

The Great Yorkshire Show is going online for the first time in its history on July 14-16.

The show, that would normally welcome 130,000 visitors, was cancelled in March due to coronavirus. But it is now going virtual to offer three full days of entertaining video footage.

The organisers, Yorkshire Agricultural Society, are offering the performances, demonstrations and livestock visitors would expect from the traditional event.

Acts will include Yorkshire-based TV stunt performers Atkinson Action Horses, a cook off with top chefs and a Q&A session with stars of The Yorkshire Vet.

Soprano Lizzie Jones and the Leyburn Band will also perform. Viewers will also get a behind the scenes tour with the Olympic show jumper Graham Fletcher.

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

“While the coronavirus has caused the cancellation of our iconic annual event, we are determined that the show must go on, albeit in a different format this year.

“The Yorkshire Agricultural Society recognises that the Great Yorkshire Show offers a fantastic platform to celebrate and champion the very best of British agriculture and so we hope to achieve that virtually this year. There will be something for everyone to enjoy online over the show’s three days.”

The virtual show will see the return of well-loved performers but this time viewers can watch it from home.

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The businesses who would have held trade stands can also be accessed by viewers. A comprehensive directory is available to encourage viewers to shops as well as watch the show.

A full schedule will be available on the Great Yorkshire Show website.