Countdown to Kilnsey Show (From Craven Herald)

Countdown to Kilnsey Show

11:30am Sunday 22nd June 2008

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The countdown is on to the 2008 Kilnsey Show - the UK's biggest one-day agricultural show.

Kilnsey Show and Sports - staged in the shadow of the famous Kilnsey Crag on Tuesday August 26 - remains one of the best-known of its kind in the northern calendar, attracting exhibitors, competitors and visitors from near and far.

Once again, there will be a host of show classes, support attractions, displays, demonstrations, competitions and much more.

All-day horse events will be supported by displays of vintage tractors and agricultural machinery, a dry stone walling competition, angling demonstrations and a birds of prey showpiece.

There will be a vast array of local produce and handicrafts, plus up to 100 trade stands and 40 food stalls.

The annual Kilnsey Sports will include the gruelling Kilnsey Crag Race, and back by popular demand will be Harvesting the Sun Ring - a parade of sheep and cattle, along with other farm animals. It will be supported by a hands-on opportunity to smell, feel and touch the animals - a joy for younger visitors, particularly those from urban backgrounds.

For lovers of regional foods, a cookery theatre will feature demonstrations by local chefs Jonny Gilmore, of the Devonshire Arms, Bolton Abbey; Martin Peachey, of the Hopper Lane Hotel, Blubberhouses; Jim Rowley, of the Red Lion Hotel, Burnsall; Craig Allen, of Coniston Hall Hotel, and Bruce Elsworth, of The Angel Inn, at Hetton, joined by Steven Crabtree, of Bolton Abbey Foods.

Andrew Wood, who has just been voted the Tilda food company Chef of the Year, will lead a children's cookery theatre, Kilnsey Show is a true showcase for uplands farming and the 2008 show will bring down the curtain on the successful Food and Farming for REAL campaign, which has shone the spotlight on the vital role and positive contribution hill farming communities make.

Plans for a dedicated children's educational area are being put in place - again with a food and farming theme. Activities could include Smoothie-making, card-making, colouring and white boards.

The role of women in rural life is being portrayed through photography by Abi Ryder, a local farmer's daughter.

More than £20,000 of advance funding for this year's show is in place and show chairman and local farmer Robert Lambert said the event had all the makings of being one of the biggest and best ever.

"While our emphasis as a traditional regional agricultural show must always remain on livestock, we are always trying to lay on different events and activities that will appeal to a much wider audience - in fact, to each and every sector of the community," he said.

"At the same time we are seeking to reflect the changing role of the traditional hill farmer, who is no longer principally a food producer, but more of an environment creator. Kilnsey Show, with its tie-up with Food and Farming for Real, is a true trailblazer of this change."

Gates for this year's show open at 9am and close at 7pm.

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