County show drops Newark from title

Organisers of Nottinghamshire’s annual county show have voted to drop Newark from its title.

Newark and Nottinghamshire County Show, which this year attracted more than 50,000 visitors to Newark Showground, will be simply Nottinghamshire County Show from 2013.

The decision was made on a unanimous vote at a Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society council meeting.

The society said the time was right to build on the increased pride Nottinghamshire people had in their county and put its substantial agricultural achievements firmly on the map.

The show is the biggest rural show in the county and visitor numbers were up 6% on the previous year.

Society president Mr Mich Stevenson proposed the name change.

He said: “With strong public support for the county flag and the real sense of pride in the community that events in 2012 have helped generate, it made perfect sense for the show’s title to reflect what it is — a showcase of everything that our diverse and successful county has to offer.

“Hopefully this will firmly establish the show in people’s minds as the place to be each May.”

The society’s chief executive, Mr Adrian Johnston, said: “The change is welcomed by our members as it will give the 130th show even broader appeal, helping us to draw in and showcase in Newark all that’s good from across the entire county, including Nottingham and our county towns.”

Mr Johnston said a survey by the East Midlands Development Agency estimated the show attracted an additional spend of around £3m in and around Newark.

“We believe that the repositioning will help us attract an even bigger spend into the town,” he said.

The leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Mrs Kay Cutts, said: “The county show celebrates our magnificent farming and rural heritage and is one of the jewels in the events calendar in Nottinghamshire.

“The show organisers are clearly ambitious to build on its strengths.

“The renaming of the show will reinforce this ambition by widening out its appeal even further afield.”

From 1878 Newark Show had competition from the Nottinghamshire society’s annual show that established a showground at Wollaton Park.

However, the Nottinghamshire event struggled while Newark went from strength to strength.

Sconce Hills, Winthorpe Park and the Cross Keys paddock on London Road, Newark, were all used as venues before the society bought the old Winthorpe Airfield for around £20,000 in 1964.

In 1958 the Nottinghamshire event was rescued by a merger with Newark Show, creating the Newark and Nottinghamshire County Show.

In 1989 Newark was dropped from the title, returning in 1996 to give relevance to the people in and around the town where it was held.

Next year’s Nottinghamshire County Show will be on May 11-12 at Newark Showground.