Royal Welsh on track for loss after waterlogged show
Gate receipts at this year’s waterlogged Royal Welsh Show, which was staged in the worst conditions since 1958, were down by £447,000 on budget, and as a result the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society is expecting a year-end loss of around £300,000 rather than an anticipated surplus of £185,000.
On the eve of the show the society was committed to an expenditure of £2.5m and had the event been cancelled the loss to the society could have spiralled to between £3m and £4m.
The figures were revealed by the chairman of the board of management, David Lewis, to members of the society’s Council at Builth Wells.
The weather during the build-up to the show was dreadful, he said, but “despite the prophets of doom from the media,” cancellation was never on the agenda.
“To cancel Wales’ premier agricultural and rural event was unthinkable and would have been catastrophic for the nation,” said Mr Lewis. “The society’s contribution to the rural economy is now some £40m per annum with approximately £25m of that figure emanating from the show.
“In spite of the problems of parking thousands of cars in quagmire conditions supporters of the show from across Wales and elsewhere demonstrated their loyalty by turning up in force over four days. As a result the Royal Welsh maintained the run of attendances that have exceeded 200,000 every year since 1989. The final figure was 200,695.”
Mr Lewis paid tribute to the Honorary Show Director, Harry Fetherstonhaugh, for his leadership, direction and sheer doggedness in ensuring the show ran for four days, and the staff for their efforts in staging it in the worst conditions experienced since it moved permanently to Llanelwedd in 1963 and the most difficult since the show was held in Bangor nearly 50 years ago.
The 150 acres of parking space around the showground were extended by an additional 54 acres to help ease parking problems and Mr Lewis praised local farmers for their cooperation and for providing 40 tractors and drivers to tow bogged down vehicles. The society, he said, was also extremely grateful to the residents of Builth Wells and the surrounding area for their patience and understanding.
“The Show Director will be the first to admit that lessons have been learned as far as wet weather contingencies are concerned. The difficulty for him and the board is to decide what measures should be implemented for 2008 bearing in mind the extra cost involved,” said Mr Lewis. “Hopefully, the conditions experienced in 2007 were ‘one-off’ but I would feel much happier if the parking areas owned by the society could have permanent roads installed.”
The Council was told that Pembrokeshire, the 2007 feature county at the show, had raised a total of £231,000 a wonderful sum which included the generous contribution from Pembrokeshire County Council of £65,000 and Mr Lewis thanked the people of the county for their support and the 2007 President, Edward Perkins, for his leadership and enthusiasm throughout his year of office.
Membership of the society – “a valuable insurance policy in a year such as this,” said the chairman – presently stood at 14,866 and sponsorship received for the 2007 show amounted to £288,025 in cash and £101,437 in kind, making a record total of £389,462.
Reporting on the other 2007 Royal Welsh events, Mr Lewis said the Smallholder and Garden Festival got the year off to a flying start with a record attendance of 25,558 confirming the Festival as a leading two-day event in Wales.
The Winter Fair was also highly successful. The supreme champion beast was sold for a record £12,500 and the reserve for £6000 and the attendance reached 24,397, the fourth highest in the history of the event.