East of England Show Gets a Little Bit Woolly!

The East of England Agricultural Society is delighted to be supporting British sheep farmers and the recent Campaign for Wool by including a brand new All About Wool section into this year’s East of England Show being held on 17th, 18th and 19th June this year, on the East of England Showground in Peterborough.

The new section will be an additional educational resource in a show that aims to spread the word about the importance of British farming and food and how vital it is that we buy British.

‘Therefore we felt it important that this year we are able to promote wool and support our beleaguered sheep farmers. The Campaign for Wool has been doing such great work in raising awareness of wool as a material and we really hope this is a sign of good things to come for sheep farmers,’ said Kerry Buttriss, Agricultural Manager at the Society.

The All About Wool area will feature the East of England Show’s fleece competition, plus suppliers of wool products showing how this traditional material has evolved into a very modern product. It will tell the story of wool from sheep to jumper (or carpet, insulation material, the list goes on).

The Society is delighted to announce that it will also have the ever popular Sheep Shearing Show, giving a practical demonstration of how and why sheep are shorn in an amusing and entertaining way.

The East of England Show already features a number of educational areas, including the Kids Kitchen, where this year children will be able to cook their own British fruit crumble and discover where all the ingredients come from and how they are farmed.

The Farms R Us section is a popular section where children (young and old!) can get close to farm animals and machinery and find out how farming works.

In addition to the educational side, the Show also celebrates the best of British livestock with three full days of cattle, sheep and pig classes. The Show always attracts some of the country’s finest livestock and the standard just seems to improve every year. This year’s beef cattle classes will be hosting both the Longhorn National Show and the Beef Shorthorn National Show. Sheep classes will include Blue Texel Sheep for the first time.

There are also equestrian classes featuring a multitude of breeds from Shires to Shetlands, plus scurry classes, show jumping and the inter hunt relay. The country sports area will also provide visitors with a chance to see demonstrations of a wide range or rural crafts, skills and pastimes.

If your organisation is involved in the production of woolen goods or the promotion of British wool and would like to be involved in the All About Wool section of the East of England Show please contact Kerry Buttriss at livestock@eastofengland.org.uk

Tickets for the East of England Show are on sale now at www.eastofenglandshow.org.uk Schedules for the Livestock classes can also be downloaded from this website.