ORGANISERS cancelled a major agricultural show at the last minute after heavy rain left fields ankle-deep with mud.
Honley Show president Allen Turner made the decision at 6am on Saturday when all the marquees and stands were in place and some participants were on their way to the showgrounds at Farnley Tyas.
“Very, very reluctantly we had to call the show off on the grounds of health and safety,” he said.
Click here to see the muddy conditions that forced the cancellation.
“The condition of the ground was so bad that we were unable to move things around the site any more.
“There were parts of the field which were ankle-deep in mud.”
Mr Turner said he had still hoped to go ahead with the show less than 24 hours before it had been due to begin.
“At 5.30pm on Friday the place was still in good enough condition for the show to go on. It would have been a Wellington boot show, but it could have gone on,” he said.
“But, contrary to the weather forecasts, the heavy rain came in on Friday evening and it rained all through the night.”
All the equipment for the one-day event was already in place at the showgrounds off Thurstonland Road in Farnley Tyas when the organisers cancelled.
Mr Turner said: “We were 100% ready, everything was in place including the catering, the marquees and the stands.
“When we decided to cancel we had to phone people who were already on their way to the show, including the special entertainment we had planned to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics.
“We’re very conscious of the inconvenience to many people and we can only apologise.”
This year is only the second time that the show has been cancelled because of the weather.
Heavy rain in 2000 convinced organisers to move the event from Honley to Farnley Tyas. The following year’s show was cancelled because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Mr Turner said: “It wasn’t a decision we took lightly because this is only the third time in 91 years that the show hasn’t gone ahead,” he said.
“The organisers put a lot of work into the show. It’s a 10-month-a-year operation with a heavy focus from January onwards.
“I apologise to everyone for the inconvenience, but we will be back next year.”
The show did go on for competitors in one category however.
The goat tent remained a hub of activity and the judging took place.
Vicki Hardy and her Anglo Nubian goat, Saffron took first prize in the goat contest, which only returned to Honley Show in 2010.
