ORGANISERS of the Royal Cornwall Show say that they intend to put on the show that everyone knows and loves in September.

The event has been postponed from early June to Thursday, Friday and Saturday, September 10, 11 and 12.

The decision to shift the date, unanimously agreed amongst all Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association committee members, was taken in mid-March, when it became apparent that the impact of the coronavirus outbreak would still be felt in May and June.

With a responsibility to public health foremost in their minds, the team reluctantly set about moving the show to the early autumn.

‘We certainly looked at both options, to cancel or to postpone,’ said show secretary Chris Riddle. ‘But we understand the importance the Royal Cornwall Show has to both local businesses and the regional economy, and with the current financial climate, we feel that it is hugely important to try to ensure that the Show still goes ahead this year.

‘We’re a very early show in the season and it has been moved to the end of the season. Of course this will be under continuous review.’

Feedback to the date change from exhibitors and traders has been very positive overall said Mr Riddle, and there was a sense of wanting to look to the future and beyond the difficult present situation to a time when things will be ‘back to normal’.

There is actually a precedent for moving the Royal Cornwall Show, as during the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001, the event was postponed to the September, albeit without livestock in the ring.

‘It ran very successfully that year with a good attendance, hence it was something we’d always had in mind,’ said Mr Riddle.

‘The Royal Cornwall Show has been at the heart of the county for nearly 230 years, and every year our team do all they can to ensure that everyone involved has the best event possible: this year will be no exception.

It is at times such as this when the value of a resilient agricultural sector at the heart of the UK becomes most apparent.

It is one of the busiest times of year for many farmers, with calving, lambing, crop-spraying and fertilising under way.

‘Farming has been hit by all sorts of things over the years that have been farming-related, Foot and Mouth being one of them,’ said Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association secretary Chris Riddle.

‘This is different in that it’s the whole region and the whole world that is involved.

‘To some extent farming is perhaps not as badly hit as some other sectors. People are able to carry on working as best they can. Although supply chains may be affected and there will be question marks over livestock markets, a lot of the day-to-day work is possible – farmers by nature are working in a self-isolated way.

‘That’s not to say that individual farmers are not feeling the same effects on family and mental health as everybody else, and I’m sure if you looked on a one-to-one basis you’d see that farms are having to change the way they work. But on the whole, its reassuring for people to see that cows are being milked, crops being grown, sheep still rearing lambs, this all carries on.

‘If something good can come out of this terrible situation for farming, it might be that it’s highlighting the importance of Buy Local and Buy British for the availability of our produce.’