Chairmans Report - 2004 Show

Another highly successful and enjoyable event, packed with great excitement for all the family.

The success of the 2004 Show is credited to many people but special recognition must go to our Chief Executive Mr Nicholas Wood-Dow for his continued tenacity in raising the required sponsorship, these vital funds make it possible to finance the event each year. Thrifty control of the budget was once again applied to maximise our profit potential.

Again the star of the show was John Bonnett our Show Manger and new treasurer who continued working long hours and very hard planning and setting up the show ground.

The annual Show takes months of detailed planning; this was achieved by section organisers and volunteers sacrificing much of their free time, pursuing their passion for the Show and its continued success. To all the committee and volunteers, both individual and collective, my sincere thanks for your dedication and support. Special thanks must go to the Surrey Scout radio team for their work in the car park, this year we also welcome the fresh inspiration from our new trade stand manager Darren Kirkham.

Most importantly our gratitude to all Egham Royal Shows sponsors, especially Procter & Gamble, Brian Perry and his team again provided financial support but also provided us with many invaluable facilities from their adjacent Whitehall Lane headquarters. Many thanks to all our other sponsors: Jacks Fish & Chips Limited, Royal Holloway College, Talacrest; The Runnymede Hotel & Spa, Goodley’s Jewellers, RMC Group, Trinity News Group, Nevin & Wright Estate Agents, Maranello Sales, Wentworth Club, Mr & Mrs Dennis, and many more. We are grateful to Hansan Aggregates and tenant farmer Will Hinde for allowing us to use the car park field.

The Egham Royal Show would like to thank Runnymede Borough Council for allowing us the use of Caddey’s Field again in 2004 and for continuing to be extremely supportive.

On behalf of the Show we thank local residents for their cooperation, patience and understanding in light of any inconvenienced caused during the staging of the 2004 Show.

Once again the Show was full of exciting attractions and activities. A great variety of rural back to basic roots entertainment including the long awaited return of the sheep, charcoal burning – willow making, birds of prey, gun dog trials and sheep dog display. The mountain bike and motorcycle displays were very popular as was to our delight the live music provided by Tom & Jerry and the Huckleberries. Other attractions included; Horticulture, Egham Floral Guild, cage birds, fur & feather, crafts, kids tent, children’s rides, a wealth of trade stands, vintage and classic vehicles and a super traction engine & model section.

Proctor and Gamble hosted the excellent Technology (Internet Access) Tent and provided screens to ensure nobody missed the closing stages of the 2004 Olympics.

Continuing restrictions yet again prevented the running of the much-loved pig and cattle sections though as a result of much hard work by me we had an excellent rare bread sheep show, thanks to Dorian Mead of Chertsey Show for all his help. Plans are already in place for 2005 to ensure more livestock is present.

The spirit of the community tent idea worked well again, our special thanks to Mr and Mrs Dennis life time supporters of the show who kindly sponsored all the official show badges, President Mr Alan Hassan welcomed amongst the diners at his lunch the Mayor of Runnymede - Councillor Carol Jones and her guests, other Surrey Mayors, the CEO of the Council Mr Tim Williams and the Runnymede member for Parliament Mr Philip Hammond.

We have continued to develop our website filling it with show information; www.eghamroyalshow.org.uk. Members of the organisation team can be contacted through this site. Andy Marlow deserves a massive pat in the back for creating and maintaining the site, all information can be emailed to him via the site, Oh and Andy thanks for rigging and engineering the PA during the show too, an excellent job.

Plans for the 2005 show are now well under way, we are working hard to finance and improve the Show year on year. We rely on volunteers so we welcome any help and support in this respect.

New sponsors are also welcomed how ever small. To volunteer or sponsor the show please contact the committee 01784 740979.

Moving forward into the 21 st Century as discussed last year we plan to introduce an alternative idea to raise money and the opportunity for association to our great show both on an individual and corporate level in the form of a stake holder scheme, further details of this very exciting and innovative please call 01784 740979.

Thank you; Frances Wood for all administration work undertaken, the Vice Chairman Paul Turney for his dedicate organising and running of the main ring with his loyal team, Tom Richardson for negotiating free radio communication, public address equipment, and fire safety equipment. Thanks goes out to our President Alan Hassan for his continued support as safety officer. Claire Bonnet deserves a big thank you for tirelessly collecting quality raffle prize for the grand raffle held at the show, which was very profitable.

Egham Residents Associations teamed up with us for the third very enjoyable and well-attended Barn dance on the Saturday night, an attraction due to its popularity now a permanent feature.

Looking forward to a great 2005 event.

James C.G.Doran
Chairman
February 2005

This Years Report