Cheers! A new competitive section is being introduced at this year’s Royal Cornwall Show – to celebrate cider making.

The resurgence in the popularity of cider has led the organiser of the show, the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association, to include cider classes among the numerous competitive elements of Cornwall’s largest annual event.

The Cornwall Cider Championships will be open to amateur and professional cider makers, with entries encouraged from within the county and around the UK.

David Berwick from St Ives Cider, chairman of the newly-formed cider section committee organising the championships, is looking forward to the inaugural event.

He said: ‘Cornwall has often been seen as the little brother when it comes to cider and I feel this competition is essential to promote the industry as a serious contender on a national, as well as an international, stage.

‘Cornwall’s rich heritage in the cider business needs to come to the fore once again to show the industry what we can do.

‘Our commercial makers produce some of the best cider in the country, winning awards regionally, nationally and globally.

‘There is a wealth of amateur makers quietly going about their business making really good cider on a small scale.

‘It is time we all had the chance to get recognition for what we are able to do.’

A special bar will form part of the new section where show-goers will have the chance to sample the largest array of Cornish ciders in one place.

Tipples from more than 20 commercial cider-makers based in Cornwall will be represented with the bar manned by staff drawn from their number, happy to discuss the products with visitors.

Joint cider competition organiser, Tom Bray of St Mabyn-based Haywood Cider, feels it’ll be the ‘icing on the cake for this year’s show.’

This is not the first time cider has featured at the Royal Cornwall Show.

The October 1800 event, held at St Germans by the then Cornwall Agricultural Society, offered a five guinea prize to the person who kept the ‘best cyder apple orchard’.

The same prize was offered to the author of an essay which provided the ‘best cyder making method’.

The storage of the end product proved a big hurdle for cider-makers more than 200 years ago, hence the drive to share techniques.

The prize schedule and entry forms for the Cornwall Cider Championships can be found by visiting www.royalcornwallshow.org/competitors/cider or by calling the show office on 01208 812183.

The closing date for entries is Sunday, April 1.

This year’s show takes place on Thursday June 7, 8 and 9.