Good year for Royal Welsh despite recession
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society experienced another successful year in 2011 despite the continuing recession the chairman of the board of management, David Lewis, told the society’s Council at Builth Wells.
“There are those who are forecasting that the recession will get worse before the economic climate begins to improve. Undoubtedly, there will be challenges ahead for the society and we will have to proceed with caution,” he said.
“However, I remain optimistic that so long as the society provides its supporters with value for money in terms of entertainment and improved facilities, we will continue to flourish and attract people from across Wales and the UK.”
Mr Lewis said the society had enthusiastic members who were its lifeblood, voluntary stewards whose sterling qualities could always be relied on and a feature county structure which year by year demonstrated the goodwill and generosity that exists throughout Wales towards the Royal Welsh.
“In addition to these great resources we have the support of an appreciative public who come to Llanelwedd in their thousands to enjoy the show and the other two main events,” he said.
Under the feature county system hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised in Wales for the development of the showground at Llanelwedd through investment in infrastructure, new buildings and other facilities which have made it one of the finest in Europe.
This year’s feature county, Caernarfonshire, has raised over £220,000, the Council was told, sufficient to meet the total cost of the improvement for the showground’s main ring.
“This is a marvellous achievement and the board is most grateful to the county for funding this much-needed project,” said Mr Lewis.
“The scheme was meant to be a shared project between Caernarfon 2011 and Brecknock 2012 so the society will now need to agree with Brecknock on the new feature county project for next year.”