Lincolnshire Showground: It has been an eventful year for the Showground, and with more businesses willing to spend, next year is not going to disappoint.
Jayne Southall, CEO of the Lincolnshire Showground and Lincolnshire Agricultural Society. Photo: Steve Smailes for Lincolnshire Business
There has been many highs in 2015 for Lincoln and Lincolnshire with the revealing of the Castle, the Magna Carta 800th anniversary celebrations and the National Cycling Championships.
Looking back, the past 12 months have been more than memorable for me. We were fortunate to have two glorious days of sunshine for the 131st Lincolnshire Show, which saw visitor numbers increase and is a great result for the whole team who put some much into making the Show a resounding success.
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
We held the Lincolnshire Farming Conference and Countryside Lincs for the first time in 2015, and they were both successful with lots of positive feedback. The Lincolnshire Food and Gift Fair was held again in November and we saw an incredible 20% increase in ticket sales this year. We love that both the Lincolnshire Show and the Food and Gift Fair showcase not only our venue, but also give local producers and businesses a promotional platform to sell to visitors from far and wide.
This summer, the Showground welcomed back Steam and Vintage, the One Event and Arthur Swallow Antiques to name but a few. We also welcomed a number of new events for the first time including Kustom Kulture and the high-profile Harley Davidson International Super Rally. I must admit the Super Rally was a fantastic coop for us, and people still stop me now and ask me when the Super Rally is returning to Lincoln.
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
It was the first time this event had been held in England for 26 years and I feel privileged that they chose the City of Lincoln and the Lincolnshire Showground to host this event. We welcomed 7,800 attendees and they had travelled from across the word including from Australia, Japan and Europe. This event definitely showcased what Lincoln and the Showground can offer and we are acutely aware of the value events like this bring to the economy.
September 2015 saw the opening of the Riseholme College Showground campus, a part of Bishop Burton. We’re proud to a play a part in welcoming this premier agricultural college, which offers state-of-the-art facilities, to Lincolnshire. We’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate them for winning the UK Excellence Award 2015.
We also welcomed the first residents of the new Woodlands Edge development, which consists of 18 exceptionally low-energy homes in idyllic surroundings adjacent to the Lincolnshire Showground.
Through working closely with Meet Lincoln and Visit Lincoln, we’re noticing that Lincoln is certainly becoming more recognised as a destination venue by companies and events agencies. The focus on the area in 2015 with the Magna Carta anniversary and other major events has helped to enhance this, and it’s all adding together to raise awareness of Lincoln and Lincolnshire for the great area it is.
Both locally and nationally, new venues are opening which of course create more competition. We’re in a position where our size makes us a unique venue for the area, but means we take into account other large venues across the country when considering how to develop our business. Locally, it’s important that the more space we have available, the more events the city will attract, and supporting our local community is a huge part of what we do.
We have definitely noticed that companies are becoming more flexible with their spending on conferences and events, which is a positive step forward and hope continues in the future.
As a business we continue to see the growth in the number and type of events held at the Showground and we’re attracting enquiries from a wider and more diverse client base. We aim to attract more large scale events in 2016 but saying that, every event is important to us – be it a conference for 20 people, an exhibition, a dinner for 1,000 or a music concert.
These events bring tens of thousands of people to the venue each year, benefiting not just our business, but the city and Lincolnshire which we sit firmly at the heart of. We pride ourselves on building great relationships with all our clients and we will continue to work with them to make sure their event is successful and continues to flourish.
We continue to work with Visit Lincoln and other corporate partners to help put Lincolnshire on the map. We have seen this work start to pay dividends this year, with enquiries being received from organisations and companies wanting to hold events, conferences or searching for accommodation in Lincoln.
Working closely with Visit Lincoln and other venues and hotels, between us we’re able to match the client’s needs whether it be a boutique hotel, academic facilities or a large scale venue. Lincolnshire has so much to offer and we will see this continuing to flourish in 2016.
As a unique venue for Lincolnshire, we’re able to attract and host events that are best suited to the vast amount of outside space we have available, for example with the eagerly-anticipated Sir Elton John concert in June. That said, we’re proud that many of our events help to fill hotels and restaurants, book up local transport and get people shopping in Lincoln and the surrounding areas, so we hope to continue to encourage this in the New Year too.
One of the challenges facing us for 2016 is to continue to promote the venue to a wider market. This year we have seen an increase in new, large-capacity venues opening across the country and therefore the competition for business continues to increase.
To make sure we stay competitive we have committed to investing money across the Showground, including within the Epic Centre, with new floors and partitions in our meeting spaces and even a new welcoming mat. Outside, we are refurbishing the toilet blocks and will be upgrading the car park in the New Year too.
We are very proud of the continued success of the Lincolnshire Show and The Food and Gift Fair. The Show continues to evolve and flourish where other agricultural shows have fallen by the wayside. We could not do this without the hard work, enthusiasm and commitment given by the staff, exhibitors, suppliers, sponsors, and the army of volunteer stewards who are all passionate and work hard to make The Show something Lincolnshire should be immensely proud of.
It still surprises me at the number of people and businesses from Lincolnshire who have not visited the Showground or the Show yet. Come and take a look – you won’t be disappointed!
Jayne Southall is CEO of the Lincolnshire Showground and Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and has worked for the company for eight years. Jayne manages a team of 20 staff who organise and run events throughout the year, including the annual Lincolnshire Show, the Lincolnshire Food and Gift Fair and new for 2015 The Lincolnshire Farming Conference and Countryside Lincs.
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Jayne Southall is Director of the Lincolnshire Showground and Lincolnshire Agricultural Society. Jayne manages a team of 20 staff who organise and run events throughout the year, including the annual Lincolnshire Show and Lincolnshire Food and Gift Fair.
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The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Leisure centres, gyms and shops will reopen from December 2, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced, as new tiered restrictions will be introduced when lockdown ends.
In an address before the House of Commons, Mr Johnson confirmed a return to the three-tier system, however, parts of it will tightened.
It is expected that more areas will fall into the higher tiers when they come into effect.
However, details of which tier regions in England will land on won’t be confirmed until on Thursday.
Lincolnshire was in the lowest tier (one/medium), and managed to escape moving into tier two (high) just days before the latest national lockdown.
From December 2 people would be able to leave their homes for any reason and meet others in outdoor public spaces, subject to the rule of six.
Pubs in tier three areas will stay shut unless offering takeaway services.
In tier two only those serving meals will be able to open with last orders at 10pm and curfew at 11pm, as businesses will get another hour of trading.
Collective worship and weddings will be allowed to take place.
A ban on outdoor grass-roots sports has also been lifted. Gyms, leisure centres and non-essential shops will reopen in all areas.
A maximum of 4,000 fans are set to be allowed at outdoor events in the lowest-risk areas.
A mass testing pilot carried out in Liverpool will also be expanded nationally for six weeks in tier three areas.
Plans for the festive period should be confirmed later this week, with up to three households allowed to meet.
Mr Johnson praised the nation for “steadfastly observing nationwide restrictions.”
“For the first time since this wretched virus took hold, we can see a route out of the pandemic,” he said.
He praised the “sacrifices of millions of people across the UK”
However, he warned: “The hard truth is we’re not there yet. First we must get through winter without the virus spreading out of control and squandering our hard-won gains at exactly the time when the burden on the NHS is always greatest.”
Mr Johnson said: “I can’t say that Christmas will be normal this year, but in a period of adversity, time spent with loved ones is even more precious for people of all faiths and we all want some kind of Christmas – we need it.
“But what we don’t want is to throw caution to the winds and allow the virus to flare up again, forcing us all back into lockdown in January.
“This virus is not going to grant a Christmas truce. It doesn’t know Christmas and families will need to make a careful judgement about the risks.”
Mr Johnson concluded by praising the latest vaccine developments from Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
“This will be still a hard winter, Christmas cannot be normal and there’s a long road does to spring, but we have turned a corner and the escape route is in sight,” said Mr Johnson.
“We must hold out against the virus until testing and vaccines come to our rescue and reduce the need for restrictions and everyone can help speed up the arrival of that moment by continuing to follow the rules.”
Four Lincoln siblings once again lit up their North Hykeham homes with Christmas cheer with another special festive charity display as they continue their dad’s legacy.
Peter Clare and his sisters Tracey, Leann and Michelle took over the display from their father after his death in 2004 and endeavour to make it bigger and brighter each year.
There are festive displays at the homes of Peter and Tracey at 65 Meadow Lane, as well as at Leann’s next door.
Michelle lives nearby and normally provides festive food and drinks in the gardens for visitors, but this has not been possible the year due to the pandemic and the current government guidelines.
The festive display at Peter and Tracey’s house.
Lots of lit up animals including foxes, which are a recent addition for this year’s display.
The light display will be available to see every night between 5pm-9pm, with visitors asked to make a donation into the bucket at the door to raise money for their chosen charity.
The lights stay on longer when it gets nearer to Christmas Day.
Christmas has come early in North Hykeham.
Instead of the usual bigger launch event, this year’s switch on was done via Facebook on November 7.
A convicted sex offender who lied to police about where he was living has been jailed at Lincoln Crown Court.
Christopher Clarke, who was required to tell police his current address after being placed on the sex offenders’ register, claimed he was sleeping rough on land at Cow Pastures in Louth.
But officers became suspicious of him because of his appearance.
Edna Leonard, prosecuting, said: “He didn’t have the appearance of someone who was sleeping rough.
“On October 16 he went to the police station and his risk manager asked him to show him where he was sleeping.
“The defendant took him to Cow Pastures. When they arrived the defendant initially said they were at the wrong location.
“Then he came clean and said he had been living with his partner at an address in Ludgate in Louth. He said he had lived there since 2018.”
Clarke, 39, currently of no fixed address but who had been staying in Ludgate, Louth, admitted charges of failing to comply with the sex offender notification requirements and with supplying false information.
He was jailed for four months and the time he is on the sex offenders’ register was increased to seven years.
Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told him: “You were taking the Mickey out of the whole system and ignoring what you were told you had to do.”
The court was told that Clarke was originally placed on the sex offenders’ register after appearing at the Crown Court on October 9 this year when he was sentenced for a charge of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
Sunil Khanna, for Clarke, said the defendant ended up asking his partner to let him stay at her house because he had nowhere else to go.
“He accepts his actions were unjustified. This wasn’t a case of him disappearing off the face of the earth.”
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