ORGANISERS of one of the county’s most well-known country shows have announced it will go ahead this year after they managed to raise £50,000 to stage the event.
The Alresford Show was almost scrapped after last year’s event was abandoned due to torrential rain making Tichbourne Park dangerously impassable hours before it opened.
Bosses were left with losses totalling £100,000 and the possibility that they would not have enough funds to stage another show.
But after a fundraising campaign the show’s organisers are confident they have weatherproofed the event and are expecting their biggest turnout in the show’s 100-year history.
Alresford Show secretary Gussie Raimes said: “We have been really overwhelmed with the support we have received. It’s been heart-warming.
“We hope that we will be able to go ahead if there’s a repeat of last year’s heavy rain, as we now have contingency plans and have changed the layout of the show.
“We’ve never had rain like last year’s at the show before. It’s been a learning curve. But we are confident of the long-term future of the show.”
Following the cancellation of last year’s event bosses immediately launched a fundraising drive to recruit new members and sell life memberships to shore up its finances.
Gussie added that the centrepiece of this year’s event would be the world-famous Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas and the attendance of the Winchester Gurkha Museum.
The cancellation of last year’s show was particularly painful for the organisers, The Alresford and District Agricultural Society, which was celebrating its 100th birthday.
It has only been cancelled a few times before, during the First and Second World Wars, and twice due to foot and mouth in the 1960s and 2001.
The one-day annual countryside event usually draws crowds of around 15,000.
This year it will be held on Saturday, September 5 from 9am to 6pm.
● For tickets and information contact Hazel on 01962 771201.
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