Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Agricultur­al show scrapped

ORGANISERS COULDN’T SCALE DOWN THE LARGE SHOW INTO A SMALLER, FAMILY-FOCUSED EVENT

- By PAUL WHITEHOUSE editorial@examiner.co.uk @examiner

PENISTONE Agricultur­al Show has been scrapped for 2020 after plans to scale down the event to a small, family-focused attraction failed to work out.

The coronaviru­s pandemic has meant virtually all visitor attraction­s have failed to go ahead this year but organisers of the show said they had gone ‘beyond the 11th hour’ to make a decision in the hope they could salvage something.

However, they have now announced all options are off and the earliest a show will take place will be September 2021.

The announceme­nt comes days after the Government imposed new restrictio­ns on Kirklees, which borders the Penistone district, and Rotherham has also appeared on a list of 20 locations which could be subjected to a future clampdown because of high transmissi­on rates of the disease.

The show team had been in protracted talks with Barnsley Council, which has to licence such events, but they have now announced the event will not happen this year.

In a statement they said: “The Penistone Agricultur­al Society team has been constantly reviewing the updated regulation­s as lockdown has been slowly lifted across the country.

“We had thought that whilst our traditiona­l show couldn’t go ahead, we could at least have put on a small family, ticketed only event for the local community. Something which has been done in recent weeks within the new guidelines across other areas of the country by other societies.

“It is, however, with real regret that the decision has been made that we cannot go ahead in any format this year.

“No events are to be allowed in the area for the foreseeabl­e future. Let’s hope that 2021 is a much more favourable year and that things move towards something nearer to normal.”

Prospectiv­e plans had been in place in the hope the show could go ahead in some format and some traders had booked stalls, with organisers now contacting them to cancel those arrangemen­ts.

 ??  ?? Show jumping at Penistone Show
Show jumping at Penistone Show

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