Tickets selling out fast for show breaking entry records

Tickets are selling fast for next week’s Great Yorkshire Show which is celebrating some record numbers of competitors.

The Showground is already at full capacity for the Wednesday, with high demand for the remaining days. Show Director Charles Mills said: “We have capacity for 140,000 visitors across the four days and there are no ticket sales on the gate so anyone who wants to come and enjoy the Show needs to be buying their tickets as soon as possible.”

Sheep entries are at a record high this year of 3,045 – the previous record was 2,597 in 2019.

The show will also host the Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset Sheep national show as well as the Valais Blacknose Sheep Society breed show for the first time.

Cattle numbers are high with entries still coming in as the show gears up to host two World Cattle Congresses. Farmers will attend from Europe, Australia, the USA and Canada, as well as all parts of the UK, as they attend the Charolais World Congress and the Shorthorn Breed Society World Congress.

The Shorthorn Society celebrates its 200th anniversary and guest of honour will be the patron of the Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society and of the Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, HRH The Princess Royal, who will visit on Tuesday 12th.

Princess Anne has visited the show a number of times, most recently in 2014 and in 2018.

The introduction of new show jumping classes this year has led to another record-breaking number of entries at 407, more than 150 higher than the previous record in 2000 when records began. The new classes all take place in the TopSpec White Rose ring on the Friday.

For the first time ever, there will be Sheep Dog Trials taking place twice a day in the Main Ring with competitors from UK’s four home nations - England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland - taking part. There will be Junior and Senior Semi Finals taking place from Tuesday to Thursday, culminating in a Championship on the Friday.

The trials are being organised by the International Sheep Dog Society which holds national and international trials every year and a World Trial every three years.

Young sheep handlers who help with the shearing classes at the show will have a unique opportunity to learn from a world champion at this year’s event.

Matt Smith took the World Nine Hour shearing record in 2016 and will be at the Show on the final day, Friday 15 July, to share his expertise with the young shearers, focussing on sheep welfare.

Sporting Soprano Lizzie Jones, from Halifax, will take to the Main Ring to sing every day, culminating in the National Anthem at the end of the show on Friday as a nod to the Queen’s Jubilee. This will be accompanied by a wonderful montage of the Queen’s visits to the Showground over the years thanks to the Yorkshire Film Archive.

The Cheese and Dairy Show is back and new Chief Steward, Caroline Bell will be leading this section for the first time. Caroline is stepping into the place of her mother, Judy, who died in March. Judy was a dynamic and passionate Chair and Chief Steward of the Cheese & Dairy section, building it up to being a key part of the show, culminating in annual cheese auction which raised thousands of pounds for charity every year. This year the auction will be held at 3pm on Thursday July 14.

Television presenter Christine Talbot will host a chat show on the new GYS Stage which is sponsored by Daniel Thwaites and held in the former fashion show building next to Grey Gate. Big name farming celebrities will be interviewed and then meet fans afterwards in a meet & greet zone.

This will include: Countryfile presenter Adam Henson will appear on Tuesday July 12; Popstar turned farmer JB Gill on Wednesday July 13; TV host Matt Baker MBE on Thursday July 14; Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen on Friday July 15 and Peter Wright of The Yorkshire Vet who will take to the stage each day of the Show.

There will be visitors coming to the Great Yorkshire Show for the first time. This includes a group of Sheffield women who were born in Pakistan and Bangladesh and will be broadening their knowledge of English rural life when they visit on Thursday July 14.

The women are part of the Roshni Sheffield Asian Women’s Resource Centre and their visit has been organised by Maxwell A. Ayamba, Founder and Managing Director of the charity Sheffield Environmental Movement (SEM), who was awarded the 2021 National Lottery Award for Heritage. Maxwell, who brought members of Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association (SADACCA) to the show for the first time in 2019, is using part of his Lottery Award money to organise this trip.

Two Chelsea Pensioners who are retired soldiers of the British Army and will be in full Scarlet Uniform, will meet Junior Soldiers at the Army Foundation College’s Operating Base on Wednesday July 13.

They are visiting the Great Yorkshire Show for the first time and have travelled from the iconic Royal Hospital Chelsea, London.

It's been a lifelong ambition for 82-year-old Barrie Davey (Chelsea Pensioner – Ex Royal Army Veterinary Corps) and Peter Fullelove (Chelsea Pensioner – Ex Black Watch) to come to the Great Yorkshire Show and they’ll be here for the first time.

Visitors will be able to see a host of rural activities across the week and across the Showground, with sections ranging from art to wrought iron and from forestry to honey. The Discovery Zone for families will showcase regenerative farming for the first time, telling the story of environmental practices that are shaping the landscape. Another brand new addition is a Careers Hotdesk, organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and supported by agricultural colleges and vets.

The Great Yorkshire Show has become a four-day event after a raft of changes were implemented at the 2021 show due to Covid 19 regulations.

Tickets are selling fast for the show which runs over four days until Friday July 15 and are booked in advance only. Tickets won’t be available on the gate and will be day specific to manage numbers attending. The opening times are 8am to 6pm on all four days. To see what is happening on which day, go to: https://greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/whats-on/

Tickets are on sale now at: https://greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/ticket-information/