WHILE the final hurdles, barriers and signs are put away for another year and the 'dust settles' over the show field, I must as chairman, thank everyone who made this year's 105th Okehampton Show happen. 

With many other local agricultural shows being cancelled and re-arranged the Okehampton and District Agricultural Association have been very fortunate in being able to go ahead.  The weather came right for us just in time and I thank our brilliant gate management team, Bradsons, for their forward thinking and car park management on the day, as due to wet fields this was always going to be one of our main problems. Thanks to our kind farmers for the use of these fields and for bearing with us in re-arranging the parking system to suit the weather on the day.

The list to thank is long – a show of this size takes a year's worth of planning and would not be able to go ahead without the help of a loyal team of volunteers who give up their time to make the show happen.

It was an honour to work with our president this year, Philip Davies from Okeford Vets, and his wife, Kim, and I thank him for presiding over this year's show. I do hope they enjoyed their day along with their family and friends – the sun shone for them.

Thanks to our directors and committee members who make up the Okehampton and District Agricultural Association and who offer help and advice throughout the year, together with help setting up the show and they are a great support, 

Thanks to our show secretary who co-ordinates the running of the show and each of the section secretaries who work so hard to make their 'bit' work. We have a tremendous number of animals on site and it is no easy task ensuring their safe arrivals and departures and all the secretaries make this work so smoothly.

Thanks also to the local organisations who get involved and help on the day: Okehampton Rotary Club, Okehampton Lions, Okehampton U15s rugby team members, St John Ambulance, hon vets, North Park Vets, hon doctor, Dr T Watson, the mayor and officials of Okehampton Town Council, Sgt R Boyce and the Okehampton Army Cadets and our two brilliant new commentators who stepped into the breach. 

To all our exhibitors, traders, show day members, judges, stewards and sponsors alike I hope you had a good day and thank you for your support.  It has been a difficult year for the business community and again I must say how lucky we were to go ahead in what has been a wet and eventful summer so far. 

Finally, and importantly, a huge thank you must go to the general public who came along to the show en masse. On behalf of the association we hoped you enjoyed your day. Thank you for bearing with us in any parking difficulties — some cars and lorries did have to be towed in and out, and there may have been longer queues than normal but I hope you appreciated the difficult circumstances that the wet weather had thrown at us. Planning for next year's show will be underway as I write and I hope we see more sunshine for the rest of our summer!

Thanks to all involved again and for the many unnamed people who unstintingly give so much of their time to ensure the success of the show.

John Hockridge

Chairman

Okehampton and District Agricultural Association