Special evening concert announced for county show
There’s a rumble in the bush, that’s sure to keep toes tapping at this year’s Lincolnshire Show...
For local band the Bush Doctors is set to perform a special evening concert to entertain the crowds on the Wednesday evening after the main Show programmes closes.
The band is made up of Richard Askam on lead vocals, Richard Banks on lead guitar, Jo Banks on bass and local farmer Bob Greetham on drums and they will be performing for members of the Agricultural Society. The cover band has been playing to audiences all over the UK during the past 12 years, and this year sees them playing the outdoor stage at the Lincolnshire Show on Wednesday June 20th, in the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society members’ area.
And according to lead singer Richard, the band will be delivering a set that’s designed to suit all tastes and guarantee everyone is swinging at this year’s Show. "We have been working on the set list for this gig and think we have come up with the perfect blend of classic tracks that will suit the audience. I have been coming to the Lincolnshire Show for many years and can't wait to rock the members on the Wednesday evening," said Richard. “Our drummer is a Lincolnshire farmer and a member of the Agricultural Society and I have enjoyed the hospitality in the members’ bar over the years courtesy of my father in law who is another farmer.”
“This promises to be one of the biggest and best gigs of our summer schedule."
Karen Malpass, who handles membership at Lincolnshire Agricultural Society, added: “Membership isn’t just restricted to the farming community, as it’s open to all. Many local people join up because of the benefits they get – as well as free entrance to the Show on both days and special events such as this great concert that’s planned withe the Bush Doctors, they also get special invitations to other events outside the Show and discounts with local businesses.”
More details about the show and membership is on the web at www.lincolnshireshow.co.uk or by calling 01522 585504. www.lincolnshireshow.co.uk @lincsshow
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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.
Drew keeps the traffic flowing at the Lincolnshire Show
Local farmer Drew Smith is a man who likes a challenge.
When he’s not working on the family arable and livestock business in the Lincolnshire Wolds, or as a director of Louth Tractors machinery dealership, he takes on the complex task of overseeing the movement of 12,500 cars a day on and off the Lincolnshire Showground site.
As chief traffic steward for the annual Lincolnshire Show, Drew Smith has been heading up the traffic management team for more than twenty years. A volunteer, like the 200 plus stewards who work together to create each year’s Lincolnshire Show, he has led the way on many changes that have transformed the visitor experience over the past decade, speeding up the time it takes for each vehicle to get on and off site.
He explained: “We have introduced many changes, such as the changeover from charging per vehicle for entry, to free car parking combined with individual entry tickets. “This created an immediate and dramatic improvement on our traffic management. Despite increasing the number of cars coming through, we managed to cut the queues down to virtually none, where it had previously taken as long as one hour to get in.“
The other major change for car drivers visiting the Show, has been the increase in the number of hardstanding and roads across the 200 acre showground site at Grange de Lings.
Drew added: “We’re very lucky to have fast draining soil here at the Showground, and the hard roads have made a big difference and allowed us to reduce our wet weather contingency plans, which involve holding cars back and avoiding too many vehicles travelling over any individual route, to avoid churning up the site.”
He added: “We have two days of Show each year, but there are lots of other events taking place in the weeks before and after, and the Showground has to look its best all the time, so we have to minimise the impact of all the vehicle movements before, during and after Show.”
Each year the layout is reviewed and improved, with Drew and his team scrutinising aerial shots to see how things are working and where improvements can be made for future. “None of this would be possible without my trusty team of stewards, who have worked together for over 10 years,” added Drew.
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Count-down to the county’s big day out
Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st June 2012 at the Lincolnshire Showground, Grange de Lings
This year’s Lincolnshire Show will come to life at the 200 acre Grange-De-Lings site on 20th and 21st June, with world-class jousting from the Knights of the Damned, two qualifier heats for the Kennel Club’s Scruffts mixed breed dog show; top level show-jumping and a host of shopping opportunities.
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 an exciting mix of rural and family attractions during the two days, including the best of Lincolnshire produce at the massive Select Lincolnshire and Tastes of Lincolnshire Food Court, home to a mouth-watering selection of local produce and some great homemade recipe demonstrations throughout each day from local food champion Rachel Green. 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.
Clydesdale Bank and Duckworth’s Land Rover are once again major sponsors for the Show, where one of the star attractions is Knights of the Damned, the medieval jousting stunt team, regular favourites at the Show. This year they will be in prime position, having moved to the Main Ring, where they will appear on both Show days, led by Justin Pearson, whose film credits include Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and most recently the Madonna film WE. The troupe includes two young local riders, Rob and James Pavey. Their display includes high adrenalin clashes on horseback and superbly choreographed foot fights with swords, flaming fireballs on chains and unyielding quarterstaffs.
This year’s Sports Zone has top billing in the run up to the 2012 London Games, and will be encouraging visitors to try their hand at a huge range of Olympic and Paralympic sports. This year’s sports include cricket, golf, wheelchair basketball, canoeing, volleyball, table tennis, hockey, athletics and the ever-popular Zorb Balls. The Sports Zone is one of Lincolnshire Sports Partnership’s biggest events and last year nearly 6000 people took part in the Sports Zone over the two-days.
For the second year running, dogs will be allowed on the Showground, with dog rescue centre Jerry Green running a doggie crèche on both days. 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, giving Lincolnshire two regional winners in the 2012 national final. Also confirmed is an appearance from Merlin, the ambassador dog for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, who is on a special mission to raise £30,000 for the charity during its 30th anniversary year. The charity trains dogs to alert deaf people to important sounds and danger signals in the home, work place and public buildings.
More than a thousand young people will be taking part in the Schools Challenge over the two days, demonstrating their understanding of food, farming and agriculture, as well as having a go at making sausages with Uncle Henry’s cafe and farm shop. 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.
For horse lovers, there’s a busy competition programme in the equine rings; top level showjumping in the main ring; and retired racehorses will have their day once again, with Market Rasen Racecourse sponsoring two ex-racehorse classes at the Show. The sponsorship comes as the Racecourse seeks to raise awareness about the care of thoroughbreds after they leave the sport.
There is also special entertainment for the Wednesday evening, with the Bush Doctors band. The cover band has been playing to audiences all over the UK during the past 12 years, and this year sees them playing the outdoor stage at the Lincolnshire Show, in the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society members’ area. And according to lead singer Richard Aksam, the band will be delivering a set that’s designed to suit all tastes and guarantee that everyone is swinging along. He said: “This promises to be one of the biggest and best gigs of our summer schedule."
For shoppers, there will be boutique-style stalls in the Mews and a shop-to-drop experience at the 600 trade stands at the Show, offering anything from a new car to a pair of shoes.
Jayne Southall, who will be leading the Showground team in her first year as the Director of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and Lincolnshire Events Centre, said: “We’ve got a fantastic line-up for this year.
“The heart of the Show is to tell the story behind the county’s agriculture and food production and to encourage more people to put local produce top of their shopping list, but it is also a major visitor attraction which helps to bring Lincolnshire’s wider visitor and tourism story to a national audience.
She added: “Lincolnshire has so much to shout about, and the Show has a vital role to play as a flagship event for the county.”
Each year the Show is a big earner for the county of Lincolnshire and it is estimated that every £1 spent at the Show generates £20 in the local economy and the Show provides a major boost for local hotels and B&Bs, creating demand for 18,400 overnight stays locally.
Visit the Lincolnshire Show website at www.lincolnshireshow.co.uk for more information and to book your tickets or call the ticket hotline on 0845 2305171
Ticket prices have been held at 2011 prices and offer discounts on advance purchase:
Adult £20 : £18 in advance
Young person age 17-22 : £15 available in advance only
Child – age 5-16 – £6 : £5.50 in advance
Family – 2 adults and 3 children – £45 : £40 in advance
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Twitter: @lincsshow
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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.
Olympic hopefuls top the bill at Lincolnshire Horse Trials
Thousands turn out to see the Who’s Who of equestrian eventing
Nearly two thousand riders and visitors converged on Lincolnshire Showground for this year’s Horse Trials. The three day event attracted Olympic hopefuls from across the world, together with all the top local riders.
World renowned rider Mark Todd narrowly pipped local rider Nicola Baguley to win the Open Intermediate T section. Competitors from Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden and the USA joined the cream of British riders, including Olympic hopefuls William Fox Pitt, Laura Collett, Piggy French, Ruth Edge, Oliver Townend and Nicola Wilson.
A top pack of local riders were also put through their paces, including Ros Canter and Gina Ruck, who led through the dressage, dropping into second place overall following cross –country time penalties.
And the up and coming Emilie Chandler from Stathern in nearby Leicestershire, fulfilled expectations with two wins in the OI and novice sections, attributing her success to winter-based hillwork with her horses.
Competitors take part in dressage, show jumping and cross country over the three days at pre novice (BE100), novice and intermediate levels.
This year the course was redesigned by Horse Trials director and course designer Charles Hood, drawing praise that was reported in Horse & Hound’s review of the event, saying “Riders continue to travel the length and breadth of the country to compete at Lincolnshire – the entries list reads like a Who’s Who of the sport. It is a well deserved reputation and one that was upheld again this year.”
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- Photographs are available. These may be used only in relation to reporting of the Lincolnshire Horse Trials 2012, and any pictures used must acknowledged the photographer Julia Shearwood. Lo res versions supplied, please request any for usage as these are large files in high res version, and we cannot share via usual route of Flickr for copyright reasons. Please email your request
- A link to full results: http://www.bdwp.co.uk/lin
- Biographies and further information about British Olympic hopefuls available on the British Eventing website: click here
- Interviews with riders can be organised through Nina Lloyd-Jones at British Eventing Tel. +44 (0)2476 698855 email: Nina.Lloyd-Jones@britisheventing.com