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Fantastic First Day Of Great Yorkshire Show

Supreme Beef champion British Simmental from High Heath Farm, Hertfordshire. L-R Owner Lesley Sapsed, Gavin Thompson from sponsor Asda, handler Paul Walker, owner David Sapsed and handler Brenda Hind

Thousands of people from Yorkshire and beyond have flocked to the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show - the biggest showcase in England for food, farming and the countryside.

The first major livestock championship of the Show, the Supreme Beef, was won by a two-year-old Simmental bull, Heathbrow Important, owned by David Sapseed of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, while Reserve went to Lincoln Red bull Foulness Ultra owned by Robert Mawer of Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. Judge Peter Donger said both animals were lovely examples of their breeds.

Doncaster cup winner Peter Walker of Wack's Wicked Plants of Scampston

Red Shepherdess Hannah Jackson opened the new Gen Z area to promote agricultural careers to teenagers. The addition to the show has been created to showcase the opportunities available in the sector for young people and school leavers.

A host of well-known faces took to the Kuoni Catwalk in the new-look GYS Fashion Pavilion. Five-time gold medal winning Paralympian, Hannah Cockroft, Red Shepherdess Hannah Jackson, Sporting Soprano Lizzie Jones, cricketing legend Ryan Sidebottom and the Yorkshire Vet, Peter Wright, received a huge welcome from a packed audience.

A group of women from the Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association, some from the Windrush generation, were able to reconnect with their farming roots when they visited the Show for the first time, meeting exhibitors in the National Longhorn Championship.

The prestigious Doncaster Cup for the best in the Garden Show was won for the second year running by a display of carnivorous plants from Wacks Wicked Plants of Scampston. Garden Show steward Martin Fish said he could not remember the last time the Cup had been won in successive years by the same exhibitor. Winner Peter Walker, who is from Harrogate originally, said: “I am absolutely delighted to win again, if somewhat surprised! Reserve went to the Scarborough-based Yorkshire Pelargonium and Geranium Society at their very first Great Yorkshire Show.

Celebrities on the new Kuoni Catwalk in the GSY Fashion Show: L-R Ryan Sidebottom, Lizzie Jones, Hannah Cockroft, Hannah Jackson and Peter Wright

New technology was recognised in the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s White Rose What’s Next Award for Innovation which this year went to the JFC Agri Calf Isolation Unit. The unit allows farmers to treat sick calves in isolation and avoid cross contamination. Presented with the Rosebowl by Jenny Penty, National Sales Manager Sue Taylor said they were delighted to have won.
“Bringing a bio-security item to market involves lots of research and work. To have that recognised at such a prestigious show as the Great Yorkshire Show is wonderful.”

There was a top award for the man behind one of the region’s most successful farm machinery suppliers. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) make an award each year to the individual who has made the most outstanding contribution to the Yorkshire rural community and the winner was Geoff Brown, Managing Director of Ripon Farm Services and a Council member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

The 161st Great Yorkshire Show continues until Thursday July 11th 2019