Show day nears with a good news story

The committee are especially pleased with good news that the poultry section will be able to be held, this in light of the recent avian influenza outbreak.

This year, the Lurgan Show will be held on Saturday 3rd June and is promising to be a fun day out for all the family. The venue is Lurgan Park.

The show committee extend their appreciation to the generosity and sponsorship of the entire community and businesses, the support which enables the successful operation of the show and provision of prizes to exhibitors in all classes.

The show is especially indebted to their main sponsor, ABP Food Group, Lurgan and the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council who have provided valuable financial input to support this year’s show.

To all sponsors who faithfully support the show year on year - your financial contribution is indeed very much appreciated.

SHOW ATTRACTIONS

Lurgan Show will have a number of attractions this year and a slightly revamped layout.

Amongst other things there’ll be the ever popular Pet Show, archery, traditional rural skills, numerous trade stands and the traditional funfair.

Lurgan Show committee are also delighted that the show day event will also be supporting two charities, namely Marie Curie (Lurgan) branch and Guide Dogs for the Blind NI. Both charities will have representatives present within the showgrounds

Rural skills demonstrations this year will include saddlery, wool spinning, stained glass making, straw craft, felt making, basket weaving, wood turning and stone masonry.

A number of local businesses will be displaying and selling their products within the Craft Village marquee.

Back by popular demand to a differing format, will be the cookery demonstration. This year local chef Jenny Turley will present a range of inspiring cookery demonstrations throughout show day.

The cookery theme will be based on local produce and a summer barbecue.

Ballyvally Archery Club will be on the showgrounds providing a chance for everyone to try their skills at archery.

Lurgan Show annually attracts interest from local and national aspects especially amongst judging and showing sections and the 2017 show promises to be no different.

For local amateur radio enthusiasts, the Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club will be in attendance and the public will have a chance to interact globally.

The native and traditional breeds of cattle and sheep are once again proving very popular for this year, with Lurgan having hosted classes for many of these breeds for many decades ensuring the promotion and thus stabilisation of these breeds.

Local Lurgan breeder Ryan Lavery will be judging the traditional and native Dexters with animal identification supplier Roxan, kindly also sponsoring this breed.

The cattle interbreed section will once again prove to be most competitive with a large number of exhibitors displaying their animals.

Sponsored by Woodside Farm, the young handler competition will once again be sure to bring forward some new exhibitor talent.

The Lurgan Show dairy classes this year will be showcasing a number of breeds and showgoers will have the chance to see cows being milked adjacent to the Cattle Lawn showing arena.

Dairy classes have been kindly sponsored by Genus and Kilco Dairy Hygiene and the show championship sponsored by Danske Bank.

There will even be a chance to have a go at milking a cow yourself.

McLarnon Feeds will be sponsoring the champion and reserve champion Holstein in show.

Bank of Ireland will be sponsoring the beef pairs championship.

ABP Food Group will be supporting all classes with a special input to Aberdeen Angus classes.

Lurgan Show will also be hosting a qualifier for the Minsups Charolais Championship as well as a points show for the British Simmental competitions.

The Limousin Club for Northern Ireland have also kindly offered to support the Limousin prize fund.

Meanwhile, the Limousin breed will have a number of important qualifiers and competitions including Show Herd of the Year, Bank of Ireland Calf Championship and the Odd Ball Engineering Champion of Champions competition. In addition, Lurgan Show will also host qualifiers for Linden Feeds/NISA pedigree beef heifer championships and the Bank of Ireland/NISA Pedigree junior bull championships.

Sheep classes this year will once again prove to be very popular with at least 14 breeds on display and around 300 sheep exhibits displayed.

First Trust Bank will kindly be sponsoring the sheep section championship, whilst main show sponsors ABP Food Group will be supporting all classes and with a special emphasis on Suffolk and Texel breeds.

Natural Nutrition Ltd will also be sponsoring each section champion.

Mr and Mrs David Riley have offered very generous sponsorship towards the Texel and Rouge de L’Quest breeds.

Meanwhile, local animal feed suppliers R J Lyness have kindly offered sponsorship to a number of sheep classes.

In addition, sheep exhibitors have a number of important qualifiers including Danske Bank/ NISA Sheep championship, The Irish Shows and Clogher Valley continental sheep qualifier and the Cydectin Young Handlers sheep qualifier.

It has also been good news for Lurgan’s poultry section with the recent avian influenza restrictions now lifted, Lurgan Show will now be hosting one of the first poultry show’s of 2017.

Lurgan Show, a show which has traditionally held poultry classes and a show which has always had an excellent display of a broad range of poultry and waterfowl classes, will once again pull out all stops to ensure the section proves popular with showgoers.

Lurgan Show continues to attract large numbers of equestrian exhibitors, ranging from ponies to horses, with many classes and qualifiers throughout show day.

New for 2017 and well worth visiting, with be the Killultagh Pony Club with pony jumping classes being held up on the hill.

With expanding activities, the equestrian section will now be held in two areas of the showgrounds.

The main equestrian events will continue on the hill at Avenue Road, with the carriage driving and donkey section now located beside the Jubilee Fountain at Windsor Avenue.

All competitors/exhibitors of driving classes and donkey classes, should enter and leave the showgrounds via the Windsor Avenue entrance, this accessed from the town centre.

The Killultagh Pony club will be making their debut appearance at Lurgan Show, a much looked forward to additional attraction and indeed well worth viewing.

This year sees 23 classes available for entry in the goat section, both in pedigree, non pedigree and pygmy classes with 12 items of silverware up for grabs.

Separate showing classes will also be held for pygmy goats, with around 40 exhibits expected, be sure to pop along and see these miniature goats.

Lurgan Show also wish to record thanks for the championship prize fund sponsors Mrs M Bloomer MBE and the NI Pygmy Goat Club.

Judging in all these classes will commence at 10am.

Home industries and school exhibits section remain one of the most popular sections on show day.

Almost 3,500 exhibits will be on display this year featuring art, baking, knitting, photography, crafts, hand writing, eggs and the famous miniature gardens.

The small pets and animals ‘Pet’ show will be judged by to judge this section.

Events are due to kick off on the cricket lawn at 2pm. This section has kindly be sponsored by Jollyes.

Around 12.30pm, the Lurgan Salvation Army Band will parade into the showgrounds from Brownlow House.

The band will continue to entertain along the mall during the early afternoon and be sure to not miss their ballon modelling.

A special invitation is extended to vintage and customised vehicle owners to come along on show day and display their vehicle.

All such vehicles must enter the showgrounds via the Windsor Avenue entrance.

To enter your vehicle, simply enter on the showgrounds, with a fee of £5 per vehicle, which permits the vehicle and driver access to the full show.

All entrants will also receive a specially produced Lurgan Show mug, this year featuring a Fordson tractor, celebrating the centenary of Ford/Fordson.

The local Young Farmers’ Club will also be in attendance and will be providing some fun activities so be sure to watch out for the club and hear what your local rural youth have to offer.

For those planning on visiting Lurgan Show, admission charges are: Adults £6; senior citizen £3; under 16s £3 or a family pass £20.

Lurgan Show offers free on-site parking accessed via the main show entrance at Avenue Road.

Blue badge holders can access the showgrounds via Windsor Avenue entrance.

Check out the show website for further information www.lurganshow.co.uk or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The show secretary can be contacted on: [email protected] or telephone 07732172214 after 5pm.

So there’ll be plenty for all the family to choose from to ensure an enjoyable day out.