Meet the Great Yorkshire Show's First Female Show Director (and Find Out What's On This Year)
Now in its 165th year, we find out what's new for 2024 at the Great Yorkshire Show
Organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the Great Yorkshire Show is a hugely-popular agricultural event which takes place on the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate, and this year (9th–12th July) will be the final time that Show Director Charles Mills is at the helm as he comes to the end of his tenure. Visitors to the show can expect to see the best animals in the UK as well as machinery, food and entertainment which all celebrate the very best of farming, food and the countryside.
Dairy farmer Rachel Coates, from Shipley, will make history as the first female Show Director when she takes over from Charles Mills immediately after this year’s show. Rachel says she’s honoured by the opportunity. ‘It’s a dream come true – but also a dream I wouldn’t have even dared or thought to dream,’ she says. ‘I was in a council meeting and it came up that Charles was going to retire and someone had said to him “will he (the person who takes over) be a farmer?” And I said “or her?!” That seed obviously found a bit of fertile ground in my head somewhere and just grew. When it was advertised, I thought, yeah, I’m going to go for it!’
‘The Great Yorkshire Show is four days of the best
of Yorkshire, and Northern England’
Rachel comes from a rural background: her father was a livestock auctioneer and she grew up on a smallholding. She has been part of the Great Yorkshire Show cattle committee and her family have shown dairy cattle at the show for around 15 years, winning Holstein Champion for two years running in 2022 and 2023. Rachel first visited when she was 18. ‘I loved it,’ she says. ‘I think I brought my mum the first time, and she thought it was so great she became a member. I’ve probably been just about every year since and I’ve been with Young Farmers and with my children when they were young.’
Rachel is a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society Council and farms a mixture of tenanted and owned land on the edge of Baildon Moor and the urban fringe. She describes herself as ‘a bit of a Great Yorkshire Show junky’. ‘I just love everything about the show,’ she says. ‘It’s one of my favourite weeks of the whole year. I’m even more looking forward to it this year, obviously! This year, without the constraints of being Show Director, I’m really looking forward to looking at every aspect of the show – maybe with different eyes. It’s going to be very different to how I’m going to be looking at it in the future. It’s a good opportunity to get around every single bit of it.’
Rachel says the Great Yorkshire Show is four days of the best of Yorkshire, and Northern England. ‘In particular – food and farming,’ she adds. ‘It’s a rural-based show, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s every aspect of country life there. I’m looking forward to going to the bees and honey display, the garden show, the forestry section and to the big poles where they do the pole climbing. The Food Hall is spectacular and there are lots of individual producers in there, often who are farmers as well, showcasing the best of Yorkshire food. Then when you go down into the livestock area you can see all the animals you want to see. It’s so great for the general public to see all the different breeds. There’s sheep, pigs, goats, the beef and dairy cattle and the horses (which are always spectacular).
Rachel says the Great Yorkshire Show is four days of the best of Yorkshire, and Northern England. ‘In particular – food and farming,’ she adds. ‘It’s a rural-based show, there’s no doubt about that, but there’s every aspect of country life there. I’m looking forward to going to the bees and honey display, the garden show, the forestry section and to the big poles where they do the pole climbing. The Food Hall is spectacular and there are lots of individual producers in there, often who are farmers as well, showcasing the best of Yorkshire food. Then when you go down into the livestock area you can see all the animals you want to see. It’s so great for the general public to see all the different breeds. There’s sheep, pigs, goats, the beef and dairy cattle and the horses (which are always spectacular).
‘We are the Great Yorkshire Show and I think that says a lot about Yorkshire people because we are great in Yorkshire. It’s a great way to bring farmers and rural communities together. There’s a lot of isolation in the countryside and the Great Yorkshire Show is where people meet up. It’s a bridge between the general public and the farming industry and that’s one of the things I want to strive for even more – to bridge that divide.’
‘Sometimes visitors don’t always get to the far-flung
corners of the show and there are lots of hidden gems to see’
As she takes on the role of Show Director, Rachel has plenty of hopes and aspirations for the show. ‘I have said that I want to focus on the show remaining relevant to agriculture. It’s changing a lot at the moment and we need to keep pace with that – and we are. There’s the Innovation Zone [which was introduced last year] which is lots of the new developments in agriculture (robotics and regen). It’s not like we’re not keeping pace, we just need to make sure we keep doing that. I also want to appeal to a younger generation because they are the future – I know it’s very clichéd. A lot of Young Farmers are taking over sooner than my husband’s generation did for instance. We’ve encouraged our son to come on board a lot sooner. They’re investing in their business a lot earlier and have an influence on their family business. We need to appeal to that generation to come to the show. We have debates and discussions and there’re lots of presentations – so lots of information that farmers can get from the show. That’s something that we need to strive to [continue to] do.’
But what can visitors look forward to this year? TV presenters Helen Skelton, Adam Henson, Peter Wright from Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet and Rob and Dave Nicholson, of Cannon Hall Farm, will appear on the Vertu Motors GYS Stage to be interviewed by TV presenter Christine Talbot before taking part in a meet and greet. Farming influencers Olly Harrison and Joe Seels will broadcast the show to their followers. They’ll also take part in the Farm to Fashion Show at the Sheep Shearing Stage, highlighting the important role of UK sheep farmers. Across the four days, there’ll be show jumping, judging, forestry and woodcraft, shearing and much more including a photography exhibition by British Life Photographer of the Year, Amy Bateman.
New for this year, don’t miss Paul Hannam’s Quad Bike Stunt Show, the Craft Beer Bar (with award-winning Yorkshire beers) for the first time in the Food Hall, Main Ring performances from international classical singers the Forever Tenors, The Battle of the Butchers in the Food Hall and a methane-powered tractor from Russells farm machinery. British Army Band Catterick, comprised of musicians from The Royal Corps of Army Music, will play for the first time this year too. The People’s Choice competition is back for the first time since 2019 and has been extended to goats and pigs. The President’s Lawn will showcase a Grimme four row self-propelled potato harvester set up in honour of the YAS President this year, Martin Cockerill, who is a potato farmer. The Great Yorkshire Show Food Theatre will see Huddersfield’s Samira Effa take to the stage for the first time and family-owned brewery T&R Theakston will be quenching thirsts. ‘There’s something to see on every corner,’ says Rachel. ‘Sometimes visitors don’t always get to the far-flung corners of the show and there are lots of hidden gems to see.’
