Business showcase to boost Lincolnshire exports
A special initiative has been launched that will bring Lincolnshire’s biggest exporters together next month, in a move designed to encourage more local companies to export their products to new markets.
Trading in New Markets is a new initiative for the Lincolnshire Show 2012, taking place on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st June 2012. Designed to celebrate the successes of those already trading nationally and internationally, its aim is to encourage other Lincolnshire businesses to open up new export markets and take their products to a wider audience.
It’s a joint initiative from Lincolnshire Agricultural Society together with UK Trade & Investment, Lincolnshire County Council and the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, and locally-based exporters taking part include companies from agricultural, engineering, food production and the motor industry.
“We will be celebrating the inventiveness, initiative and hard work of companies based within the county that are already trading successfully both domestically and internationally,” said Jayne Southall, director of Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.
She added: “It’s already a big success with the number and range of companies wanting to take part, but it’s also proved a boost for the Show itself as we’ve raised awareness with a number of companies saying they’ve been missing an opportunity to connect with their customers and local market by not joining the Show before.”
ENDS
@lincsshow
LincolnshireAgriculturalSociety
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Karen Malpass at Lincolnshire Events Centre in Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
kmalpass@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585504
Maggie Taylor at Prima PR
maggie@primapr.co.uk – 01400 251557 / 0797 3767 602
Editor’s Note:
Lincolnshire Events Centre is a major national conferencing venue, home of the Lincolnshire Show and the groundbreaking EPIC project. Just outside the historic city of Lincoln, the Centre hosts events for 10 to 10,000 visitors on its 200 acre showground site and 3000 square metres of indoor exhibition and venue space.
Outdoor events include the flagship Lincolnshire Show, antiques fairs and horse trials, attracting over 200,000 visitors each year. Under cover, there are exhibition halls and conferencing facilities, including the recently completed EPIC centre, the second largest purpose-designed showcase for environmental technologies in the UK, it enables event organisers to reduce, monitor and offset their carbon footprint.
Lincolnshire gears up for its annual agricultural showcase
Over 60,000 visitors are expected at this year’s Lincolnshire Show on 20th and 21st June, to learn about the importance of agriculture and farming in the life of the county.
Reflecting the agricultural heart to the Show, this year’s events will include the ever popular pig racing; the spectacular Grand Parade of the best of the county’s livestock and the vintage to modern day agricultural machinery display.
As well as the county’s finest animals on show, there will be a mix of rural and family attractions, including the best of Lincolnshire produce at the massive Select Lincolnshire and Tastes of Lincolnshire Food Court, including the launch of a major new Lincolnshire cheese from Lymn Bank Cheese of Thorpe St Peter, near Skegness.
Produced with local milk from nearby Rich Pastures Dairy, the Skegness Blue cheese will be unveiled by cheese maker Stephen Grinstead, who is looking for national markets for his traditionally produced, blue veined cheese. He said: “It’s gone well in the trials and we’ve come up with something that is slightly creamier and less blue than a stilton. We’re hoping it will become one of the biggest sellers in the country.” Lymn Bank Cheese plan to launch another new cheese later this year - Skegness Gold – which is a naturally cloth bound cheddar.
The Lincolnshire Show will also host three of the giant Quadtracs that will be taking part in a world record attempt in the county later this year, for the most cultivating Quadtracs in one field, with organisers hoping to have more than 20 of the machines taking part. The attempt has been launched by fourth generation farmer Helen Clarke in memory of her father John Rainthorpe.
The Discovery Zone will be hosting Pork to Fork : The story of the Sausage, explaining how one of Lincolnshire’s most famous products reaches the table, and other Show performances will range from falconry to bee keeping.
Also making a second appearance are dogs on the Lincolnshire Showground. For the second year running, dogs will be allowed into the Show, and Scruffts have confirmed that they will be running a regional heat on both days of the Show this year for their Family Crossbreed Dog of the Year competition.
The Show has retained its major sponsors, with Clydesdale Bank and Duckworth’s Land Rover on board for a further year and director Jayne Southall has confirmed that the Show will continue in its mid-week slot in future years, saying this is the strongest way to retain its agricultural heart.
She explained: “We are set on innovation and continuing to broaden our appeal, but the Show must support our core charitable aims – which are to promote understanding, and awareness of the role played in the county by agriculture and food production - and we must have the agricultural community fully on board.”
She added: “The Show is still the county’s best kept secret. We’ve pushed up to more than 60,000 visitors but there is still huge potential and we’re set on increasing numbers of both visitors and exhibitors in 2012. I want to develop more involvement in the Society by young people and further boost our links with education.”
The Lord Taylor of Holbeach, CBE, Government minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and head of one of the UK’s leading horticultural companies is this year’s President of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.
In the presidential role, Lord Taylor will represent the Society at the Lincolnshire Show.
He said: “The Society plays an important part in the economic life of Lincolnshire as well as performing a great task as advocate for the agricultural and horticultural industry, in what is the country’s premier agricultural county.”
Twitter: @lincsshow
Facebook: LincolnshireAgriculturalSociety
ENDS
Media enquiries:
Karen Malpass at Lincolnshire Events Centre in Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
kmalpass@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585504
Maggie Taylor at Prima PR
maggie@primapr.co.uk – 01400 251557 / 0797 3767 602
Editor’s Note:
Lincolnshire Events Centre is a major national conferencing venue, home of the Lincolnshire Show and the groundbreaking EPIC project. Just outside the historic city of Lincoln, the Centre hosts events for 10 to 10,000 visitors on its 200 acre showground site and 3000 square metres of indoor exhibition and venue space.
Outdoor events include the flagship Lincolnshire Show, antiques fairs and horse trials, attracting over 200,000 visitors each year. Under cover, there are exhibition halls and conferencing facilities, including the recently completed EPIC centre, the second largest purpose-designed showcase for environmental technologies in the UK, it enables event organisers to reduce, monitor and offset their carbon footprint.
Schools are set for a sizzling time at this year’s Lincolnshire Show
More than a thousand young people will be taking part in the Schools Challenge at this year’s Lincolnshire Show, in the competition which tests their understanding of food, farming and agriculture.
This year’s challenges range from learning about the optimum growing conditions for potatoes to coming up with a marketing strategy to encourage young people to visit the Lincolnshire Show.
And there are 46 primary, secondary and special schools taking part this year – more than ever before, as organisers have expanded the Show schedule to allow more entrants.
“We’ve been oversubscribed every year so for 2012, we’ve adapted the judging timetable to take place over two days, and have taken over the whole of the main exhibition hall to satisfy demand from schools,” explained Phil Everett of Lincolnshire Education Business Partnership, organisers of the competition, which is sponsored by Farmacy, Uncle Henry’s, Barbara Welby Trust and E Park and Sons.
Also on the timetable for schools will be a visit to the Show’s Discovery Zone, where they will be shown farming techniques and food production methods at first hand, including From Pork to Fork: The Story of the Sausage. They can then try their hand by having a go at making sausages back in the Schools Challenge area, with Uncle Henry’s cafe and farm shop.
Alongside the Schools Challenge, many more schools visit the Show for educational visits to learn about agriculture and farming in their home county.
The Schools Challenge also includes a professional development day for teaching staff on the first day of the Lincolnshire Show, and this year the theme is conservation, which is being supported by the Woodland Trust , Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), Sustainable East Midlands and Uncle Henry’s.
To book visits or find out more about the Schools Challenge, contact Phil Everett at the Lincolnshire Education Business Partnership, on 01522 574100
The full list of schools taking part (in alphabetical order):
Ancaster CE Primary School
The Axholme Academy
Bishop King CE Primary School
Branston Junior School
Dunholme St Chad's C of E School
Grantham Additional Needs Federation
Grasby All Saints C of E Primary School
Grimoldby Primary School
Hartsholme Academy
Hawtonville Junior School
Hibaldstow Primary School
Humberston C or E Primary School
Ingham Primary School
John Fielding Community Special School
Kesteven and Sleaford High School Selective Academy
Lacey Gardens Junior School
Lady Jane Franklin School
Lincoln Christ's Hospital School
Marton Primary School
Monks Abbey Primary
North Kesteven School
Osgodby Primary School
The Priory School
The Priory Witham Academy
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar - A Selective Academy (Alford)
Saint Norbert's Catholic Primary School
Scampton CE Primary School
Scawby Primary School
Sir John Gleed School
Sir William Robertson High School
South Parade Primary School
Spalding Monkshouse Primary School
St Bernards School
St Francis Special School
St Georges Academy
The St Lawrence Academy
St Lawrence School
Stamford Queen Eleanor School
Tetney Primary School
Toynton All Saints Primary School
Trent Valley Academy
Welton St Mary's CE Primary School
Wragby Primary School
The challenges:
01 Alternative Materials
Curriculum Links: Science, Citizenship
Students investigate non-food crops and research the carbon footprint of their school.
They should develop ideas on how to make their school more sustainable and compare the
available fuel options to find which would be most suitable for use in school.
02 Improving my School Grounds
Curriculum Links: Art and Design, Citizenship, Geography
Students are tasked with the challenge to improve their school grounds. They should
create a design portfolio of their ideas which should encourage input from the wider school
community. Previous examples have included a sensory garden and a vegetable patch.
03 Farming Past, Present and Future
Curriculum Link: History
Students compare the technology and culture of the past, present and future farming
communities within their local area. Students can present their timeline, using any method
that engages the audience.
04 Design a Healthy School Dinner
Curriculum Links: Design and Technology – Food Technology
Students research what is meant by healthy eating and use this to plan a menu of a healthy
two-course meal that could be served at school. Where possible, ingredients should be
home-grown or locally produced.
05 Advertising the Lincolnshire Show
Curriculum Links: ICT, Media studies, Business Studies
Students critically analyse the existing strategies used to advertise the Lincolnshire Show.
They should then develop new concepts which will promote The Show to young people whilst
reducing the environmental impact of the event.
06 Growing around the Globe
Curriculum Links: Modern Foreign Languages, Citizenship
Students investigate which crops grow best in the British climate and compare these with the
types of crops which would thrive in a school garden on a different continent. They should
contact this school by post or email in the correct language if feasible.
07 The Potato Challenge
Curriculum Links: Design and Technology, Science
Students grow potatoes and experiment to find the optimum growing conditions. They may
develop recipes using their potatoes, which, along with the remaining potato plants will be
judged at The Lincolnshire Show.
08 Design from Nature
Curriculum Links: Art and Design
Students study a range of design techniques using different shapes, fabrics and textures. They
should then research designs from nature which can be replicated