Year in review: 2021 13 Dec
It’s been an interesting past year for the Lincolnshire Showground, as many of you will know, at the end of 2020 our newly refurbished EXO Centre welcomed teams from the NHS and local doctors’ practices as it was set up as a Covid vaccination centre for the Lincolnshire area. A drive-through Covid testing centre also opened to the public in Spring 2020 and both continue to operate on the Showground. Throughout the last year, we have been working hard to implement Covid-safe measures in our venues, ensuring all visitors and delegates feel safe during their visit to the Showground.
As a small team of just over 15 people, we’ve hosted over 150 events in 2021 despite the pandemic, and 8 were our very own. Alongside this, we’ve engaged with an incredible 1,738 students throughout the year during our education activities including our Schools’ Competitions, Lincolnshire Day, Farmhouse Breakfast Week and our home learning initiatives. We’re so proud to play a part in teaching them all about food, farming and the environment – something which is so important. We also support young adults interested in agriculture via careers events, our IMPACT networking and social group and the Lincolnshire Farming Conference in February each year. As a charity, all surplus funds are used to support our educational work which is a fundamental part of what we stand for and will only continue to grow as our event business, the Showground, does too.
Throughout the year we welcomed a whole range of events back to the Showground, including ONE Event, the Warner’s Motorhome Show Finale, Primordial Radio AGM, Mega 2021, Race for Life, the Big Nineties Festival and Autumn Lights. On 15 August, we opened the gates to our brand-new family event, LincsFest! We were joined by over 4,000 people at the outdoor event which featured live musicians, performances in our Countryside Ring, wildlife activities and an indoor food and craft market. The event also featured local chefs and producers who demonstrated in the Lincolnshire Kitchen.
Looking ahead to 2022, we already have lots of exciting events in our calendar. Rag‘n’Bone Man and Simply Red will be joining us in July, as well as McFly, Call of the Wild Festival and Imp on the Green. Also in 2022, our annual Lincolnshire Show will finally be returning after two years, the event will be celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and we can’t wait to welcome 60,000 visitors back over two days.
As well as the Lincolnshire Show, our small team organise a number of events including the Lincolnshire Farming Conference, International Women’s Day, Countryside Lincs and the Lincolnshire Food & Gift Fair, and profits from all of these help us to continue our charitable and educational work as the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society.
Our charity of the year for 2022 is St Barnabas Hospice and we will be supporting them throughout the year. St Barnabas is a local, highly regarded charity that touches the lives of so many across Lincolnshire. We also continue to support the local community through our yearly Toy Appeal, where we ask visitors to the Lincolnshire Food and Gift Fair to donate unwrapped toys and gifts which are then donated to the Bridge Church in Lincoln who distribute them to families in need.
We’d like to say a big thank you to all our visitors, exhibitors, supporters and sponsors for the continued support this year. If you would like to be involved or find out more about our educational work, please contact us via education@lincolnshireshowground.co.uk. If you would like more information about our event venues, our facilities or the Lincolnshire Show please contact events@lincolnshireshowground.co.uk
