ON Friday, April 13, Nick Vincent, chief executive of the Three Counties Showground, came to talk about the role of the showground in Malvern and nationwide. He gave an enthusiastic talk covering the showground’s history, where it is now as a business, what it does and where it aims to be in the future as an organisation.

Home of the Three Counties Agricultural Society, the showground formed as a combination of the three separate agricultural societies of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The firstever show was put on in 1956; in 1974-86 the main buildings were established and then in 2011 the Three Counties Centre opened.

As to where it is now as a business, the organisation is a registered charity and limited company, located on an estate of 310 acres, with the showground itself occupying 90 acres. The visitor catchment covers 148,000 people within a 30-minute drive, extending to 1.3 million within one hour’s drive.

Nick discussed the local influences it has, both positive and negative.

The positive local influences included its contribution to the local economy, covering visitors using hotels, bed and breakfasts, shops, restaurants, the theatre and caravan parks. The other side of the coin was noise pollution, traffic, light at night and ticket prices. On ticket prices, Nick asked us to consider that the tickets are still relatively cheap compared to other shows and that a price of £15 or £20 a show usually covers six hours of entertainment.

With entertaining illustrations, Nick took us through the principal annual shows such as the Three Counties Show. Which events attract the most footfall was a topic of interest: 30,000 a day is the norm for most shows, the largest revenue being attained from the Spring Show.

Regarding future strategy, Nick discussed the development of educational programmes, maintaining the integrity of shows and upgrading the Severn Hall office. The importance of a successful relationship between the showground and the town was something that Nick strongly supported. Finally, he acknowledged that he would like to make more effort to improve the marketing of the showground in the Malvern Gazette and would also like to improve the footpath access from Blackmore Park.

On Civic Society business, chairman Roger Sutton reminded us of forthcoming highlights, including Civic Week. He confirmed that the town council had endorsed the community partnership with Marianske Lazne in the Czech Republic, a cause we have strongly supported, and reminded us that there are still places available on the society’s visit to the European Parliament from October 8-14.

We also had a brief presentation from Mike Goodfellow-Smith, chair man of the Malvern Community Forest community group.

The next meeting will be held at Christ Church, Avenue Road, on Friday, May 11, when Tim Ryan will be talking about the river Severn and its ferries, starting at 7.30pm.

For information on forthcoming events, details are listed in the April news sheet or on the website malverncivicsociety.org.uk.

For anyone wishing to join the Civic Society, please contact membership secretary Alan Hudson on 01684 893837.

DENISE PRESTON