2008 Royal Welsh one of the best – but not perfect, says chairman
This year’s Royal Welsh show, held in the only fine week of the summer, was a highly successful event which attracted 236,000 visitors, the second best attendance on record. The third day saw 69,832 people at the show, the highest number for a single day, and a new sponsorship record was also established with £412,018 received in cash and in-kind support.
The 2008 show had been described as one of the best, the chairman of the board of management, Mr David Lewis, told the society’s annual council meeting at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells. However, it was not perfect and a 70 page report was placed before the show administration committee containing observations and comments, suggested improvements and constructive criticism, he said.
Some of the criticism resulted from changes in traffic management introduced for the 2008 show to avoid a possible repeat of the parking problems experienced in the waterlogged conditions of the previous year. An additional 54 acres of land was brought into use at a cost of £20,000 and the cost of shuttle buses to service all the routes from the parking areas to the showground amounted to £87,750.
There were severe delays in bussing visitors from the North 17 and 18 car parks, especially on the opening day of the show, though the situation improved on subsequent days when additional buses and their more flexible deployment came into effect.
“Historically, there have always been traffic problems on the first morning and there is now a strong feeling that in future the operation needs to function efficiently on the first day,” Mr Lewis said.
“Every effort will be made to improve the shuttle bus service for 2009,” he added.