Countryside Alliance supports successful online agricultural show

The Countryside Alliance was delighted to support the Greatest Online Agricultural Show which took place on Saturday, 2nd May, and was raising funds for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution along with a number of other farming-related charities.

The Countryside Alliance had a virtual trade stand at the event and also sponsored the hunt parade which took place in the Countryside Arena during a full day of entertainment. The event was created to provide something for all the family and "beat the lockdown" due to the cancellation of several large agricultural shows following the outbreak of COVID-19.

"We were thrilled to support this initiative which has raised vital funds for a number of farming and agricultural related charities whilst also giving people an opportunity to embrace technology and benefit from some virtual social interaction after several weeks of lockdown," said Polly Portwin from the Countryside Alliance. "The Countryside Alliance hunt parade was particularly well-supported and was the highlight of the day for those with an interest in following hound, demonstrating how vital it is for hunts to continue to interact with the public at these events.

"Our thanks go to those who coordinated the hunt parade and to the packs that contributed."

Organiser David Hill explained some background to the event: "This show was conjured up out of thin air less than six weeks ago and has been put together by (literally) a small handful of volunteers, none of who have had much sleep for weeks."

"We built two websites to cope with a couple of hundred livestock classes and had 800 entries. Our showground had 250 trade stands and had received 2,500 visitors by 11am - 2 hours after opening. We had a combined following of around 10,000 people across various social media channels and have raised over £16,000 to date for charity."

For anybody who missed the Countryside Alliance hunt parade, it can be watched below.