NFU North’s Regional Director David Hall, Cumbria County Adviser Catherine Stokes and County Chair John Longmire were on hand to greet members and non-members who stopped by for a chat.
The NFU stand attracted lots of visitors throughout the two days, with staff from NFU Kendal, NFU South Lakes and NFU Lancaster providing show-goers with refreshments and biscuits.
On the Wednesday, which was Back British Farming Day, NFU North Director David Hall and Cumbria County Chair John Longmire were interviewed by several local media outlets, including BBC North West Tonight.
On Thursday, NFU Vice President Rachel Hallos and National Livestock Board Chair David Barton joined the team on stand, where they met John Geldard and Hugh Ward from the Lynster Farmers Group.
Rachel met Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Lizzie Collinge and Shadow Farming Minister Robbie Moore MP stopped by to chat to the team on stand. The issues effecting members across Cumbria were put to the MPs including the impact of the changes to IHT and the lack of access to environmental schemes.
Two absolutely fantastic days
NFU Vice-president Rachel Hallos said: “It’s been a busy day, we’ve met some amazing members and learned an awful lot about what’s going on up here in Cumbria. I’ve seen some cracking cattle and a great success story with John Geldard and the work that they’ve been doing around the river system of the Lyth and Wynster, which I really do need to learn more about and hopefully get some ministerial interest in this and just show what farmers can do when they work together.”
John Longmire, Cumbria County Chair, added: “We’ve had two absolutely fantastic days. On Wednesday we celebrated Back British Farming Day so that tied in with the show very nicely. We’ve done a lot of media reports, TV and radio, which was great to do. It was a tremendous day to showcase what the farmers of Cumbria and especially Westmorland and South Cumbria are doing. We’ve met members and discussed lots of local issues.
“Westmorland Show and all the local shows around Cumbria are all very important. Westmorland Show is the pinnacle of it; it finishes off the show season in a lot of ways. It’s stuck to its traditional agricultural values. Its somewhere people can show what they’ve produced, what they’ve got to offer and show the general public what we’re all about.”