Frome Agricultural and Cheese Show

Frome Cheese Show News

THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY of the society behind Frome’s annual Cheese Show is to be marked by a special exhibition in the town’s museum which opens on Tuesday (July 12th).

THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY of the society behind Frome’s annual Cheese Show is to be marked by a special exhibition in the town’s museum which opens on Tuesday (July 12th).

The exhibition, which runs to the end of August, will then transfer to the West Woodlands Showfield where it will be on display at this year’s show, appropriately, in the Cheese Pavilion.

The Frome & District Agricultural Society was founded in 1861 with the aim of staging a “Great Exhibition” of those two local specialities, cheese and butter, taking advantage of the coming of the railway to the town to help exploit a growing nationwide demand for these products.
 
It also meant that the show could —and indeed did — attract entries from far afield. In fact all but three of the prizes for salted butter in the first show went to Ireland, much to the delight of the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, the Earl of Cork, whose tenant in Co Cork the winner was!

Good old Cheddar cheese was very popular in those days and it was reported that Messrs Gayton of Trowbridge bought 28.5 tons (yes, that’s right, tons!).
 
Records of the next few fairs are few and far between but there was apparently some criticism of the accommodation for the cheeses so in 1875 a new market hall, now known as the Cheese & Grain, was built.
 
Livestock and other classes were introduced to widen the Show’s appeal with land on the other side of the river from the Market Yard being turned into a show field every year. Classes were progressively introduced for horses and cattle, pigs and dairy utensils and dogs, with rick thatching, hedge laying and other rural skills competitions being added to the schedule, though these were not staged on the show field itself.

A grandstand built there before the First World War was later taken down and rebuilt on the Fromefield Show ground when the show moved there in 1920. It stood for more than another 50 years before being burned down shortly after the 1972 show.
 
The show flourished at Fromefield but by the late 1990s it was clear that the showfield there was becoming too small to accommodate it. After a long search and much discussion, it was decided to buy land at West Woodlands and move there.

The first show on the new site took place in 1999, with the change from the traditional Wednesday date to Saturday following shortly afterwards
 
From then on Frome Show has been able to offer many more attractions for visitors, many more competitive classes and, underlining the aims of the Show’s founders, many more opportunities for local, regional and national businesses to market goods and services.

A mile-long internal road complex been installed, there’s now a permanent show ring, a country-side pursuits area has been created along with a nature reserve and a livestock village which hosts the hundreds of cattle, sheep and goats which compete for class and show honours has been introduced.
 
However the latest development takes the show right back to its earliest days, and to the reason why it is known almost universally as The Cheese Show.
 
The Cheese Pavilion has grown bigger year on year with the number of entries increasing along with the number of classes open to cheese and other dairy produce makers.
 
Now in a move which will confirm Frome Show as one of the top events of its kind in the country, the Cheese Pavilion is to be given a permanent base so that as well as the many tables on which the entries are displayed it will be able to house major trade stands and offer facilities which are not possible on what is basically a grass surface.

And, 2011 will see the launch of a new “Global Cheese Award” with a fine new trophy and £1000 for the best cheese from anywhere in the world, reflecting the aim of the founders of the Society who, 150 years ago, invited entries to that first Show from all over the UK, with a sweepstake open to the world.
 
Society press officer and archivist Peter Corbett said it was doubtful that Frome Show 2011 would see anyone buying 25.5 tons of Cheddar but there’s no doubt that the founding fathers of the show would be delighted with the way their brainchild has grown.

“The exhibition will feature photographs taken at all three of the Show’s locations together with copies of show schedules and other memorabilia but it has been designed so that if anyone has anything they’d like to have displayed it’s not too late!

“All they have to do is contact me on 01373 466536 or through the show office and I’ll do the rest – including taking very good care of it.”

08 July 2011

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