Getting set for the Show

Judges travel from all over the UK and Eire to see what Northern Ireland has to offer with great variety and quality livestock as well as talented handlers.

And the travel range and numbers of spectators and visitors is just as considerable each year.

Organised by the County Antrim Agricultural Association, the 2010 event will be held once again at the Ballymena Showgrounds, and the great news for parents and families is that children under 12 will be admitted FREE on Saturday, May 29.

Adults/OAPs admission is just 6, children 12-16 years’ admission is 3 and car parking is also just 3.

On Saturday, the main show day, trade stands open from 9am with Poultry, Home Industries, Floral Art and amusements open all day.

Agricultural Shows are famous for the promotion of ‘Crafts’ and Ballymena show has a tradition of working with local schools, Womens Institutes, YFCs, Homes and Day Centres to display the talents of local people with Baking, Needlework, Crafts, Photography, Painting, Poetry and Flower Arranging.

Ballymena show also has a wide variety of trade stands, from agricultural machinery, to animal feed, bags, cars, clothing, gardening implements, hardware, information, jewellery, kitchenware, meats, plants, quads, tools, toys and lots more, and these are always a big draw for visitors.

On Saturday, ponyjumping and sheep classes will commence from 9.30am with cattle, Clydesdales and pony showing from 10am.

Shearing will start at 12.30pm, organised by the NI Sheep Shearers Association as part of the NI Circuit, with finals around 4pm

And the ever popular YFC competitions will be held after the Parade of Cattle Champions (around 2.30pm).

Trade stands will not be open the previous day, Friday, May 28, which features the highly popular Horse Show and - new for 2010 - the Race Horse to Riding Horse class designed for the Ex-Race Horse.

All Horse classes except Clydesdales will be held on the Friday commencing with Horsejumping from 9.30am affiliated to SJI - entries will be taken on the day.

The showing classes will start at 1pm, including the RDS Breeders Championship and various ISA qualifiers.

After the parade of Champions, Pony Club Games and Mounted Games will take place (approx. 4.30pm)

Also on Friday, the Home Industries, Floral Art & Poultry will be judged but these sections will not open to the general public while adjudication is taking place.

Visitors with a camera to hand, however, will also have the chance to win a prize themselves by entering the competition for ‘The Best Show Photo’. By bringing your camera on the day you could win a voucher for a Portrait worth 350 kindly sponsored by Portfolio, Ballymena.

Photographs must be submitted to the show office by the end of June along with the name, address and telephone number of person who has taken the photograph and will be judged by Portfolio for the Best Show Photo.

For more details on this or any other features of Ballymena Show 2010, just contact the Show Secretary on 028 2565 2666

or by email: [email protected]