The chairman designate elected for Highland Show
The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland has announced that Bill Gray, farm and estate Manager at Prestonhall Farms, has been elected chairman designate for 2018-2019.
Appointed to the RHASS Board in 2005 as a Lothian area director, Gray earned his stripes serving nine years as chief steward of car parks at the Highland Show and has served on the organisation’s executive committee for the last three years.
A past chairman of Lothian Machinery Ring and Dalkeith Agricultural Society, he also became an associate of the Royal Agricultural Society in 2017.
“The role of Chairman Designate gives me the opportunity to further contribute to RHASS as it continues to develop the Royal Highland Show, its additional commercial interests and fulfils its charitable objectives,” said Gray on being elected to the post.
The society also announced its presidential team for the 2018/198 season which will consist of respected members of the farming community from the Borders region – and will be headed up by the year’s president, formermpandco-founded the Global Strategy Forum, Lord Lothian, Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr.
And four well-known faces in the agricultural world will serve as vice presidents. Egg producer and borders farmer, Sir John Campbell, former head of agriculture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Jimmy Mclean, EX-NFU president, Nigel Miller and vet and stalwart of the show’s horse section Jeanna Swan all serving in this role. The Presidential team serves for one year and is made up of representatives from the geographical ‘host’ area, a legacy of the time when the Royal Highland Show traditionally travelled round the country, before moving to its permanent site at Ingliston, Edinburgh in 1960.
The Royal Highland Show was last staged in the Borders at Kelso in 1952.
Lord Lothian said: “Agriculture and rural life, in general, are facing great challenges at present, and it is a time for us to show boldness, courage and resilience in facing them over the years ahead.
He said that farming remained a vital part of the national economy and, along with the industry’s traditional way of life, the sector needed to stand up for its core values in the face of adversity.
“I look forward to playing my small part in this over the coming months, and I believe by working together we can look to the future with confidence.”