Lincolnshire Show 2011: press passes, feature articles and reader competitions

This year’s Show takes place on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd June 2011

PRESS PASSES WILL BE DIGITAL: For 2011, press passes for the Lincolnshire Show will be managed online.  ALL requests will have to be made through the website, specifying named contacts and the days on which they are attending, as digital passes will be issued this year.  This forms part of the media centre area of the web site which is scheduled to go live in April.

PRESS RELEASES AND FEATURE ARTICLES ONLINE: The media centre on the web site will also include copies of all press releases and feature articles as they go live, providing a single easy-to-access route. In addition, if you would like exclusive feature material, or if you require interviews before or at the Show, we will be happy to work with you – contact Maggie Taylor at Prima PR : maggie@primapr.co.uk

READER COMPETITIONS: Each year we work with media titles to offer their readers the chance to win tickets to the Lincolnshire Show.  If you are interested in discussing such joint promotions, then please get in touch and tell us how you would promote the offer to your readers or use the request form you will find within the media centre pages of the web site, when live.

PHOTOGRAPHY FROM PREVIOUS SHOWS: A selection of stock photographs from previous shows is available.  A small batch from 2010 is on Flickr at the following link:   primaprandmarketing You can also find many pictures from other people on Flickr if you search for Lincolnshire Show.  We have archive catalogues here and elsewhere online click here for a 2009 gallery and will be happy to provide unique or specific shots on request.

Keep in touch:

The Show online: www.lincolnshireshowground.co.uk
Follow the Show on Twitter: @lincsshow
Follow the Show on Facebook:
LincolnshireAgriculturalSociety

All PR and Media enquiries should be made via:
Prima PR & Marketing : info@primapr.co.uk : Tel: 01400 251557 : www.primapr.co.uk
Twitter: @magtay
Flickr: primaprandmarketing
Client news feed: click here

NB: Press releases about the Show are also available online through the Prima PR client news feed.  There is also  content and photography from previous years still available online, but it sits within the old client news area of www.primapr.co.uk – links can be provided on request.

ENDS

http://twitter.com/#!/magtay/status/52697287100600320


World class event draws international names

28.03.11 : POST EVENT UPDATE: For results from the Lincolnshire Horse Trials click here to read the report in Horse and Hound.  And click here to read the Event Centre's review of the coverage.

The annual Lincolnshire Horse Trials takes place in March at the Lincolnshire Showground at Grange de Lings.

International riders will head up an exciting three day event when this year’s Lincolnshire Horse Trials gets under way, with up to 700 competitors expected to take part.

The 2011 event takes place at the Lincolnshire Showground from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March with competitors taking part in dressage, show jumping and cross country over the three days at pre novice (BE100), novice and intermediate levels.

Once again, selectors for the British team are expected to be on the lookout during the pony trials that are also held.

The venue is recognised as an excellent event for early season because the flat, well drained ground is a good proving ground for both horse and rider.

International names attracted over recent years include last year’s Open intermediate winner Piggy French, Oliver Townend, Polly Stockton, Caroline Powell, Sharon Hunt, and Ruth Edge; and Olympic riders William Fox-Pitt and Nicola Wilson, both members of the Gold medal winning team at the World Equestrian Games last year, and New Zealand double gold medallist Mark Todd.

The event has also positioned itself as a showcase for local Lincolnshire talent. Last year’s successes included local Walesby rider Emily Parker who took the under-21 Open Intermediate section on Treefers, her 2009 young rider team gold medal winner.  In recent years, Emily has had a stream of successes including runner up in the Pony Club Championships and Junior Regional Novice Championships in 2007. She was also fourth in the U21 Eventing National Championships at Weston Park.

Amongst other local riders, Matthew Wright from Retford won the 2010 final Open Intermediate section on Hugginstown.   From Louth, Rosalind Canter had success with a win in one of the BE100 sections plus placings in other sections.   And 17 year old Gina Ruck friom Tealby, a previous gold medal winner for Britain at pony level, came in sixth in the Open Intermediate Under 21 Sections.

Another BE100 section winner was Helen Scholl from near Grantham on Blackstairs King, and in the local novice section, the winner was Deborah Doyle from Lincoln.

Last year’s event provided record visitor numbers and Show director Charles Hood is hoping to build on that success in 2011.  He said: “Our courses have a good variety of well-built straight forward fences, designed to give confidence for early season and it’s run over flat, extremely well-drained light land, giving ideal going.”

The event draws large visitor numbers to the county each year, providing a boost to the local economy, and is organised by Lincolnshire Events Centre on the showground site at Grange-de-Lings, which is also home to a major national conferencing venue and the groundbreaking EPIC green building project.

Running order:

Each day of this three day event is focussed on a particular class, giving visitors the chance to see all events each day, cross country, dressage and show jumping.

Friday 18th March:

BE100 and Open BE100 classes.
8.00am   Dressage
8.50am   Show jumping
9.30am   Cross country
5.00pm Approx finishing time

Saturday 19th March:

Novice and Open Novice plus Pony Trial dressage and show jumping
8.00am   Dressage
8.50am   Show jumping
9.30am   Cross country
5.00pm Approx finishing time

Also taking place on Saturday is Pony Trial dressage and show jumping.  The pony cross country is on Sunday at 9.00 am.

Sunday 20th March

Intermediate and Open Intermediate classes plus Pony Trial cross country
8.30am   Dressage
9.00am   Show jumping
9.00am   Pony Trial Cross country, then the open intermediate cross country

Entry on Saturday and Sunday is £5.00 per car to include all occupants.

ENDS

Media enquiries:

Laura Luty at Lincolnshire Events Centre inc Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
lluty@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585501

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.


Business gets on board to back this year’s Lincolnshire Show

Big business and small local companies are coming together to help Lincolnshire’s agricultural heritage and education to flourish.

They are all backing the annual County Show, organised by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society to boost awareness of countryside matters, and the vital role that agriculture plays in the local economy.

It will be the 127th Show, the 52nd to be held at the Grange-de-Lings 200 acre site and the two-day event will take place on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd June 2011.

Billed as Lincolnshire’s big day out, the Lincolnshire Show is an agricultural show, one of the few county shows to remain true to its heritage, and last year attracted more than 68,000 visitors and some 650 exhibitors – both numbers that the organisers hope to beat this year.

“The Show is for everyone living in the countryside, working in the countryside and those who enjoy the countryside,” explained the Show’s business development manager Laura Luty.  “It’s really great that local businesses are keen to back us in this way.  As a charity, it’s sponsorship like this which allows us to continue to develop the Show.  As well as helping us to keep costs down, such as visitor prices, we also inject the sponsorship support into educational activities, such as our Schools’ Challenge, which encourages young people to get involved.”

She added: “Many of our sponsors come year after year, because they know it has a commercial value as well as supporting their place in our local community.  We have had an excellent response so far but are still talking to companies that are active across Lincolnshire and the East Midlands region.”

Clydesdale Bank is once again the major sponsor for the Show, Langleys Solicitors and BBC Lincolnshire are jointly sponsoring the equine area, which attracts 2000 entries each year across show jumping, mountain and moorland ponies and ex racehorse classes.

Plans for this year’s Show will be announced soon, but organisers say visitors can be confident they will experience another exciting line-up at the renowned county event, with entertainment that will appeal to all tastes and ages.

As well as the show’s traditional agricultural theme – with events including pig racing, show-jumping, the spectacular Grand Parade of the best of the county’s livestock in the Clydesdale Bank Main Ring and the vintage to modern day agricultural machinery display – there will also be a host of other stalls and activities.  Last year’s line up included medieval cooking and world-class jousting knights, through to advice on horticulture and sustainable living.

Sponsor of the Lincoln Red Cattle once again this year is The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation plc (AMC).  Adrian Cawood, regional agricultural manager said:   "AMC view Lincolnshire as one of the most important and foremost farming counties, and the Lincolnshire Show demonstrates the great commitment and enthusiasm towards farming within the county.

“When the opportunity arose three years ago to sponsor the native breed we were very happy to support it and are delighted to continue sponsor the Lincoln Reds again in 2011."

SHOW IS BIG EARNER

The Show is a big earner for Lincolnshire and research carried out last year showed that a massive £44m is being injected into the national economy thanks to the events held at the Lincolnshire Events Centre at the county’s Showground, attracting over 215,000 visitors a year.

More than 80 per cent of exhibitors return each year because of the amount of business they do at the Show and it is estimated that every £1 spent at the Show generates £20 in the local economy. The Show and other events at the Showground boost local hotels and B&Bs, creating demand for 18,400 overnight stays locally.

“The annual County Show is a major tourism attraction, alongside the city’s Cathedral and Castle,” said chief executive Mark Farmer, “It’s also a big earner for the economy, although it’s not just about the Show nowadays, as we have expanded the Showground site to become a major year-round regional conferencing and outdoor events centre.”

Images and captions from the 2010 County Show are available for download at :http://www.flickr.com/photos/55414176@N07/sets/72157625298289904/

Who’s backing this year’s Show:

Company: Sponsoring :
Jackie Strange 

Private sponsor

Shire Horses
BBC Lincolnshire Equine Ring
Brown Butlin 

A trading arm of Farmacy PLC

Young Farmers’ Trailers
Woldmarsh 

Farming agricultural buying group, Louth

Machinery Parade
Spaldings 

Agricultural and groundcare replacement parts, tools and accessories

Machinery Parade
Streets 

UK Top 30 firm of accountants, Lincoln

Vice President’s Area
E Park & Sons Ltd 

Potato supplier

Schools’ Challenge
Farmacy PLC 

Agronomy and environmental services to arable sector, Sleaford

Schools’ Challenge
Complete Print Group 

Printing supplies

General support
Osborne Refrigerators Double Harness Scurry
Brewin Dolphin 

Investment solutions, Lincoln

Parade of Hounds
McKinnells 

Solicitors, Lincoln

Courtyard
Langleys 

Solicitors, Lincoln

Ancaster Ring
Clydesdale Bank Main Ring
Double M Catering 

Catering business, Lincolnshire

General support
Lincolnshire Co-op Lincoln Longwool
Lincolnshire Co-op Commercial Beef
Savills 

Agricultural and rural estate agency services, Lincoln

Roadside Signage
Swales Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream British Charolais
Agricultural Mortgage Company Plc 

Mortgage finance for land based commercial businesses

Lincoln Red
Robert Bell & Co 

Auctioneers and Land Agents, Horncastle, Coningsby, Woodhall Spa and Lincoln

Pig Interbreed Supreme Champion
Masons Chartered Surveyors 

Property professionals, Louth

Interbreed Championships
Bang & Olufsen 

Sound and vision products, Lincoln

Screens in the EPIC Centre
Saul Fairholm 

Chartered Accountants and Auditors, Lincoln

Grand Parade of Livestock

ENDS

Media enquiries:

Sarah Poucher at Lincolnshire Events Centre inc Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
spoucher@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585501

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.


New President will focus on education and sustainability


The new President
of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society is a renowned academic figure who is committed to developing education and sustainability in agriculture.

Professor David Chiddick, CBE, former vice chancellor of Lincoln University, declared it a ‘privilege’ to follow in the footsteps of other distinguished Presidents, who have included HRH Princess Anne and the Earl of Yarborough.

Married with three children, Professor Chiddick is now Emeritus Professor at Lincoln University. He is working with the Agricultural Society development committee to bring together the Society, University and other key partners to develop agricultural programmes in a way that best integrates education and community.  He will also be focussing his attention on driving sustainability in agriculture, a vitally important theme for the Society.

His interest and involvement in agriculture dates back 20 years to his time as Pro Vice Chancellor at De Montfort University, when he took the lead in rationalising the agricultural training on offer through the three sites in Lincolnshire – at Holbeach, Caythorpe and Riseholme.  That process resulted in the consolidation of agricultural education at Riseholme and food sciences at Holbeach, providing a springboard for the college to become part of the new University of Lincoln in 2001 and Holbeach to achieve the distinction as the National Food Manufacturing Centre.

He said: “Education on the Showground site has expanded significantly over recent years, and now brings together agriculture, countryside and community with increasing involvement across higher and further education and amongst schools.  Getting more young people involved in understanding the agricultural community in its broadest senses is crucial and we have the facilities to achieve that at the Showground.”

“I grew up in an agricultural community in Norfolk and coming to Lincolnshire with its agricultural heritage was like coming home,” added Professor Chiddick.  “I have been involved in the Farm Board in the county for the last 20 years and have seen major changes in agriculture during that time. As President, I am keen to see a successful County Show which drives these vital themes of education and sustainability in agriculture.”

The appointment come at an exciting time for the Society, following the publication of a recent economic impact survey which shows that a massive £44m is being injected into the national economy thanks to the Lincolnshire Events Centre, which attracts over 215,000 visitors a year.

The Lincolnshire Events Centre is the Agricultural Society’s commercial operating arm and brings together agricultural, educational and conferencing activities.

The £7m EPIC Centre at the Showground was opened two years ago, providing a conference and events facility, capable of hosting conferences, balls and seminars, and is designed also as an educational resource and state-of-the-art events centre for up to 1,900 people.

Environmental sustainability is at the core of these recent developments, and is a defining theme of a proposed master-plan now being drawn up for the Showground.

Also leading the Society during 2011 is John Lockwood, who continues in his role as Chairman for a third year. Master of the Burton Hunt and a former High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, he runs the family property company, Castle Square Developments, alongside the family farm.

The Lord Taylor of Holbeach, CBE, has been named President Elect for 2010.

ENDS

559 words

Media enquiries:

Laura Luty at Lincolnshire Events Centre inc Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
lluty@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585501

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.


£44m injection that is helping put Lincolnshire on the map

A new economic impact survey has shown that a massive £44m is being injected into the national economy thanks to the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society’s events centre, which attracts over 215,000 visitors a year.

That’s equivalent to £120,000 and over 600 visitors for every single day of the year.

The annual County Show attracted 65,000 visitors in 2010.

Antiques fairs are held six times a year, each attracting 3000 antiques traders from across Europe

Other events range from a reception for 600 guests at an Asian wedding through to smaller events, like board meetings and staff training days.

And, according to the research, which was backed by West Lindsey District Council, the Centre is making a massive contribution to both the local and national economy.

It’s good news for the county against the backdrop of economic recession and public sector cuts, and, says the chief executive Mark Farmer, a big justification for the £1m injection of investment made by the County Council and £250,000 by West Lindsey District Council in 2007, with around half of the income generated staying in the East Midlands economy each year at a value of £22m.

The study was carried out to help guide future growth plans for the Lincolnshire Events Centre, and it demonstrates how successful the Lincolnshire Events Centre has been in attracting big events and boosting tourism.

“The annual County Show is a big earner for the economy and a major tourism attraction, alongside the city’s Cathedral and Castle,” said Mark Farmer, “But it’s not just about the Show nowadays, as we have expanded to become a major year-round regional conferencing and outdoor events centre.”

The £7m EPIC Centre at the Showground was opened two years ago, providing a conference and events facility, capable of hosting conferences, balls and seminars, and is designed also as an educational resource and state-of-the-art events centre for up to 1,900 people.  Environmental sustainability is at the core of these recent developments, and is a defining theme of a proposed master-plan now being drawn up for the Showground.

The Show and other events at the Showground boost local hotels and B&Bs too, creating demand for 18,400 overnight stays locally.  Around 20% relates to the Show, the balance being drawn by major events such as Arthur Swallows antiques fairs, which draw 3000 traders from across the UK and overseas and attract 72,000 visitors every year.  Other big draws are Grapevine, the major national religious festival, the Lincolnshire Steam and Vintage Rally, the Warner Motorhome event and this year, the British Motorcycle Federation season finale.

For the future, the Centre’s forward booking list also includes a number of high profile outdoor music concerts from big name promoters.

As well as the direct economic impact of the Lincolnshire Show, the researchers found that there was a positive financial impact on the schools, churches, charities and voluntary organisations in the area, through their involvement in the annual event.

The Lincolnshire Events Centre is the commercial operating arm of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.

ENDS

488 words

Media enquiries:

Laura Luty at Lincolnshire Events Centre inc Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
lluty@lincs-events.co.uk - 01522 585501

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.