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Highland Show ‘one of best’

ORGANISERS have hailed this year’s Royal Highland Show as one of the best yet, despite the wet weather.

Almost 150,000 people visited Ingliston at the weekend, around 13,000 fewer than last year’s record numbers.

But despite the drop, organisers said bookings from farmers wanting to display livestock were up on previous years, and highlighted an ever-growing range of entertainment and sideshows.

Almost 5000 cattle, sheep, goats and horses were on display at this year’s event.

A Royal Highland Show spokesman said: “This has been one of the best shows we’ve ever put on and we are delighted with the attendance, which beat 2000, 2001 and 2004. Last year we got 161,409, but that was a record for Ingliston.”

The range of people young and old, from Scotland, the UK, and across the world, who donned Wellington boots and waterproofs, certainly did not let the weather get them down.

They milled through the makeshift village, shopped at the giant food hall, and saw sheep and cattle from across Scotland.

The Young Farmers held a dance and younger children learned how to make smoothies and cook Scottish produce in a wok in the educational centre.

Live music ranged from the Royal Marines band to musicians from Cuba and Latin America.

Stirling was named the ‘host’ area of the show and singers and musicians from schools travelled across to play.

The Royal Highland Show, one of the highlights of Scotland’s calendar, brings an estimated 100 million into the Scottish economy and 54m to Edinburgh alone.

The amount of money that passed hands at Ingliston over the previous three days, through ticket sales and purchases on site, has yet to be calculated.

At least 16 tractors sold at about 150,000 each, while combine harvesters were priced at 250,000.

David Dunsmuir, show manager, said the event is in the fourth year of a five-year plan, but has already achieved its aim of being the premier UK event of its kind.

“We had to return a lot of livestock entries because we were oversubscribed,” he added.

“We had waiting lists for trade stands and could have run the show three weeks ago, we were so far ahead in terms of interest.

“Our aim was to make this the best show in Britain and we’ve done that. And we’ve had huge levels of international interest.

“In just one transaction we sold 15,000 tickets to a group from Northern Ireland. We’ve had people from Spain, France, America, and Australia.”

One of the things that has benefited the Royal Highland Show is the greater emphasis on local produce.

Buying Scottish meat, vegetables, fish and fruit, has become an integral part of the campaign for healthier eating, and also benefits the environment by reducing road travel. It has been a message from previous Royal Highland Shows and the event is now reaping the benefits.

As the event nears the end of its five-year plan, the next phase will involve the move to a new site across the A8 to make way for the Edinburgh Airport expansion.